Electrical Engineering Gadjah Mada University

SOICHIRO HONDA : “Lihat Kegagalan Saya”

2010-12-01T22:15:00.002+07:00

Pengalaman adalah guru yang paling brutal dan kejam.

Cobalah amati kendaraan yang melintasi jalan raya. Pasti, mata Anda selalu terbentur pada Honda, baik berupa mobil maupun motor. Merk kendaran ini menyesaki padatnya lalu lintas, sehingga layak dijuluki “raja jalanan”.

Namun, pernahkah Anda tahu, sang pendiri “kerajaan” Honda – Soichiro Honda – diliputi kegagalan. Ia juga tidak menyandang gelar insinyur, lebih-lebih Profesor. Ia bukan siswa yang memiliki otak cemerlang. Di kelas, duduknya tidak pernah di depan, selalu menjauh dari pandangan guru. “Nilaiku jelek di sekolah. Tapi saya tidak bersedih, karena dunia saya disekitar mesin, motor dan sepeda,” tutur tokoh ini, yang meninggal pada usia 84 tahun, setelah dirawat di RS Juntendo, Tokyo, akibat mengindap lever. Saat merintis bisnisnya Soichiro Honda selalu diliputi kegagalan. Ia sempat jatuh sakit, kehabisan uang, dikeluarkan dari kuliah. Namun ia trus bermimpi dan bermimpi…

Kecintaannya kepada mesin, mungkin ‘warisan’ dari ayahnya yang membuka bengkel reparasi pertanian, di dusun Kamyo, distrik Shizuko, Jepang Tengah, tempat kelahiran Soichiro Honda. Di bengkel, ayahnya memberi cathut (kakak tua) untuk mencabut paku. Ia juga sering bermain di tempat penggilingan padi melihat mesin diesel yang menjadi motor penggeraknya. Di situ, lelaki kelahiran 17 November 1906, ini dapat berdiam diri berjam-jam. Di usia 8 tahun, ia mengayuh sepeda sejauh 10 mil, hanya ingin menyaksikan pesawat terbang.

Ternyata, minatnya pada mesin, tidak sia-sia. Ketika usianya 12 tahun, Honda berhasil menciptakan sebuah sepeda pancal dengan model rem kaki. Tapi, benaknya tidak bermimpi menjadi usahawan otomotif. Ia sadar berasal dari keluarga miskin. Apalagi fisiknya lemah, tidak tampan, sehingga membuatnya rendah diri.

Di usia 15 tahun, Honda hijrah ke Jepang, bekerja Hart Shokai Company. Bosnya, Saka Kibara, sangat senang melihat cara kerjanya. Honda teliti dan cekatan dalam soal mesin. Setiap suara yang mencurigakan, setiap oli yang bocor, tidak luput dari perhatiannya. Enam tahun bekerja disitu, menambah wawasannya tentang permesinan. Akhirnya, pada usia 21 tahun, bosnya mengusulkan membuka suatu kantor cabang di Hamamatsu. Tawaran ini tidak ditampiknya.

Di Hamamatsu prestasi kerjanya tetap membaik. Ia selalu menerima reparasi yang ditolak oleh bengkel lain. Kerjanya pun cepat memperbaiki mobil pelanggan sehingga berjalan kembali. Karena itu, jam kerjanya larut malam, dan terkadang sampai subuh. Otak jeniusnya tetap kreatif. Pada zaman itu, jari-jari mobil terbuat dari kayu, hingga tidak baik meredam goncangan. Ia punya gagasan untuk menggantikan ruji-ruji itu dengan logam. Hasilnya luarbiasa. Ruji-ruji logamnya laku keras, dan diekspor ke seluruh dunia. Di usia 30, Honda menandatangani patennya yang pertama.

Setelah menciptakan ruji, Honda ingin melepaskan diri dari bosnya, membuat usaha bengkel sendiri. Ia mulai berpikir, spesialis apa yang dipilih? Otaknya tertuju kepada pembuatan Ring Pinston, yang dihasilkan oleh bengkelnya sendiri pada tahun 1938. Sayang, karyanya itu ditolak oleh Toyota, karena dianggap tidak memenuhi standar. Ring buatannya tidak lentur, dan tidak laku dijual. Ia ingat reaksi teman-temannya terhadap kegagalan itu. Mereka menyesalkan dirinya keluar dari bengkel.

Kuliah karena kegagalan itu, Honda jatuh sakit cukup serius. Dua bulan kemudian, kesehatannya pulih kembali. Ia kembali memimpin bengkelnya. Tapi, soal Ring Pinston itu, belum juga ada solusinya. Demi mencari jawaban, ia kuliah lagi untuk menambah pengetahuannya tentang mesin. Siang hari, setelah pulang kuliah – pagi hari, ia langsung ke bengkel, mempraktekan pengetahuan yang baru diperoleh. Setelah dua tahun menjadi mahasiswa, ia akhirnya dikeluarkan karena jarang mengikuti kuliah.

“Saya merasa sekarat, karena ketika lapar tidak diberi makan, melainkan dijejali penjelasan bertele-tele tentang hukum makanan dan pengaruhnya,” ujar Honda, yang gandrung balap mobil. Kepada Rektornya, ia jelaskan maksudnya kuliah bukan mencari ijasah. Melainkan pengetahuan. Penjelasan ini justru dianggap penghinaan.

Berkat kerja kerasnya, desain Ring Pinston-nya diterima. Pihak Toyota memberikan kontrak, sehingga Honda berniat mendirikan pabrik. Eh malangnya, niatan itu kandas. Jepang, karena siap perang, tidak memberikan dana. Ia pun tidak kehabisan akal mengumpulkan modal dari sekelompok orang untuk mendirikan pabrik. Lagi-lagi musibah datang. Setelah perang meletus, pabriknya terbakar dua kali.

Namun, Honda tidak patah semangat. Ia bergegas mengumpulkan karyawannya. Mereka diperintahkan mengambil sisa kaleng bensol yang dibuang oleh kapal Amerika Serikat, digunakan sebagai bahan mendirikan pabrik. Tanpa diduga, gempa bumi meletus menghancurkan pabriknya, sehingga diputuskan menjual pabrik Ring Pinstonnya ke Toyota. Setelah itu, Honda mencoba beberapa usaha lain. Sayang semuanya gagal.

Akhirnya, tahun 1947,setelah perang Jepang kekurangan bensin. Di sini kondisi ekonomi Jepang porak-poranda. Sampai-sampai Honda tidak dapat menjual mobilnya untuk membeli makanan bagi keluarganya. Dalam keadaan terdesak, ia memasang motor kecil pada sepeda. Siapa sangka, “sepeda motor” – cikal bakal lahirnya mobil Honda – itu diminati oleh para tetangga. Mereka berbondong-bondong memesan, sehingga Honda kehabisan stok.

Disinilah, Honda kembali mendirikan pabrik motor. Sejak itu, kesuksesan tak pernah lepas dari tangannya. Motor Honda berikut mobinya, menjadi “raja” jalanan dunia, termasuk Indonesia. Soichiro Honda mengatakan, janganlah melihat keberhasilan dalam menggeluti industri otomotif. Tapi lihatlah kegagalan-kegagalan yang dialaminya. “Orang melihat kesuksesan saya hanya satu persen. Tapi, mereka tidak melihat 99% kegagalan saya”, tuturnya. Ia memberikan petuah ketika Anda mengalami kegagalan, yaitu mulailah bermimpi, mimpikanlah mimpi baru dan berusahalah untuk merubah mimpi itu menjadi kenyataan.

Kisah Honda ini, adalah contoh bahwa sukses itu bisa diraih seseorang dengan modal seadanya, tidak pintar di sekolah, ataupun berasal dari keluarga miskin. Jadi buat apa kita putus asa bersusah hati merenungi nasib dan kegagalan. Tetaplah tegar dan teruslah berusaha, lihatlah Honda sang ”Raja” jalanan.

5 Resep keberhasilan Honda:

1. Selalulah berambisi dan berjiwa muda.
2. Hargailah teori yang sehat, temukan gagasan baru, khususkan waktu memperbaiki produksi.
3. Senangilah pekerjaan Anda dan usahakan buat kondisi kerja Anda senyaman mungkin.
4. Carilah irama kerja yang lancar dan harmonis.
5. Selalu ingat pentingnya penelitian dan kerja sama.

Kisah Nyata Seorang OB menjadi Vice President Citibank

2010-10-30T11:13:00.009+07:00

Sungguh sebuah karunia yang luar biasa bagi saya bisa bertemu dengan seorang yang memiliki pribadi dan kisah menakjubkan. Dialah Houtman Zainal Arifin, seorang pedagang asongan, anak jalanan, Office Boy yang kemudian menjadi Vice President Citibank di Indonesia. Sebuah jabatan Nomor 1 di Indonesia karena Presiden Direktur Citibank sendiri berada di USA.

Tepatnya 10 Juni 2010, saya berkesempatan bertemu pak Houtman. Kala itu saya sedang mengikuti training leadership yang diadakan oleh kantor saya, Bank Syariah Mandiri di Hotel Treva International, Jakarta. Selama satu minggu saya memperoleh pelatihan yang luar biasa mencerahkan, salah satu nya saya peroleh dari Pak Houtman. Berikut kisah inspirasinya:

Sekitar tahun 60an Houtman memulai karirnya sebagai perantau, berangkat dari desa ke jalanan Ibukota. Merantau dari kampung dengan penuh impian dan harapan, Houtman remaja berangkat ke Jakarta. Di Jakarta ternyata Houtman harus menerima kenyataan bahwa kehidupan ibukota ternyata sangat keras dan tidak mudah. Tidak ada pilihan bagi seorang lulusan SMA di Jakarta, pekerjaan tidak mudah diperoleh. Houtman pun memilih bertahan hidup dengan profesi sebagai pedagang asongan, dari jalan raya ke kolong jembatan kemudian ke lampu merah menjajakan dagangannya.

Tetapi kondisi seperti ini tidak membuat Houtman kehilangan cita-cita dan impian. Suatu ketika Houtman beristirahat di sebuah kolong jembatan, dia memperhatikan kendaran-kendaraan mewah yang berseliweran di jalan Jakarta. Para penumpang mobil tersebut berpakaian rapih, keren dan berdasi. Houtman remaja pun ingin seperti mereka, mengendarai kendaraan berpendingin, berpakaian necis dan tentu saja memiliki uang yang banyak. Saat itu juga Houtman menggantungkan cita-citanya setinggi langit, sebuah cita-cita dan tekad diazamkan dalam hatinya.

Azam atau tekad yang kuat dari Houtman telah membuatnya ingin segera merubah nasib. Tanpa menunggu waktu lama Houtman segera memulai mengirimkan lamaran kerja ke setiap gedung bertingkat yang dia ketahui. Bila ada gedung yang menurutnya bagus maka pasti dengan segera dikirimkannya sebuah lamaran kerja. Houtman menyisihkan setiap keuntungan yang diperolehnya dari berdagang asongan digunakan untuk membiayai lamaran kerja.

Sampai suatu saat Houtman mendapat panggilan kerja dari sebuah perusahaan yang sangat terkenal dan terkemuka di Dunia, The First National City Bank (citibank), sebuah bank bonafid dari USA. Houtman pun diterima bekerja sebagai seorang Office Boy. Sebuah jabatan paling dasar, paling bawah dalam sebuah hierarki organisasi dengan tugas utama membersihkan ruangan kantor, wc, ruang kerja dan ruangan lainnya.

Tapi Houtman tetap bangga dengan jabatannya, dia tidak menampik pekerjaan. Diterimanyalah jabatan tersebut dengan sebuah cita-cita yang tinggi. Houtman percaya bahwa nasib akan berubah sehingga tanpa disadarinya Houtman telah membuka pintu masa depan menjadi orang yang berbeda.

Sebagai Office Boy Houtman selalu mengerjakan tugas dan pekerjaannya dengan baik. Terkadang dia rela membantu para staf dengan sukarela. Selepas sore saat seluruh pekerjaan telah usai Houtman berusaha menambah pengetahuan dengan bertanya tanya kepada para pegawai. Dia bertanya mengenai istilah istilah bank yang rumit, walaupun terkadang saat bertanya dia menjadi bahan tertawaan atau sang staf mengernyitkan dahinya. Mungkin dalam benak pegawai ”ngapain nih OB nanya-nanya istilah bank segala, kayak ngerti aja”. Sampai akhirnya Houtman sedikit demi sedikit familiar dengan dengan istilah bank seperti Letter of Credit, Bank Garansi, Transfer, Kliring, dll.

Suatu saat Houtman tertegun dengan sebuah mesin yang dapat menduplikasi dokumen (saat ini dikenal dengan mesin photo copy). Ketika itu mesin foto kopi sangatlah langka, hanya perusahaan perusahaan tertentu lah yang memiliki mesin tersebut dan diperlukan seorang petugas khusus untuk mengoperasikannya. Setiap selesai pekerjaan setelah jam 4 sore Houtman sering mengunjungi mesin tersebut dan minta kepada petugas foto kopi untuk mengajarinya. Houtman pun akhirnya mahir mengoperasikan mesin foto kopi, dan tanpa di sadarinya pintu pertama masa depan terbuka. Pada suatu hari petugas mesin foto kopi itu berhalangan dan praktis hanya Houtman yang bisa menggantikannya, sejak itu pula Houtman resmi naik jabatan dari OB sebagai Tukang Foto Kopi.

Menjadi tukang foto kopi merupakan sebuah prestasi bagi Houtman, tetapi Houtman tidak cepat berpuas diri. Disela-sela kesibukannya Houtman terus menambah pengetahuan dan minat akan bidang lain. Houtman tertegun melihat salah seorang staf memiliki setumpuk pekerjaan di mejanya. Houtman pun menawarkan bantuan kepada staf tersebut hingga membuat sang staf tertegun. “bener nih lo mo mau bantuin gua” begitu Houtman mengenang ucapan sang staff dulu. “iya bener saya mau bantu, sekalian nambah ilmu” begitu Houtman menjawab. “Tapi hati-hati ya ngga boleh salah, kalau salah tanggungjawab lo, bisa dipecat lo”, sang staff mewanti-wanti dengan keras. Akhirnya Houtman diberi setumpuk dokumen, tugas dia adalah membubuhkan stempel pada Cek, Bilyet Giro dan dokumen lainnya pada kolom tertentu. Stempel tersebut harus berada di dalam kolom tidak boleh menyimpang atau keluar kolom. Alhasil Houtman membutuhkan waktu berjam-jam untuk menyelesaikan pekerjaan tersebut karena dia sangat berhati-hati sekali. Selama mengerjakan tugas tersebut Houtman tidak sekedar mencap, tapi dia membaca dan mempelajari dokumen yang ada. Akibatnya Houtman sedikit demi sedikit memahami berbagai istilah dan teknis perbankan. Kelak pengetahuannya ini membawa Houtman kepada jabatan yang tidak pernah diduganya.

Houtman cepat menguasai berbagai pekerjaan yang diberikan dan selalu mengerjakan seluruh tugasnya dengan baik. Dia pun ringan tangan untuk membantu orang lain, para staff dan atasannya. Sehingga para staff pun tidak segan untuk membagi ilmu kepadanya. Sampai suatu saat pejabat di Citibank mengangkatnya menjadi pegawai bank karena prestasi dan kompetensi yang dimilikinya, padahal Houtman hanyalah lulusan SMA.

Peristiwa pengangkatan Houtman menjadi pegawai Bank menjadi berita luar biasa heboh dan kontroversial. Bagaimana bisa seorang OB menjadi staff, bahkan rekan sesama OB mencibir Houtman sebagai orang yang tidak konsisten. Houtman dianggap tidak konsisten dengan tugasnya, “jika masuk OB, ya pensiun harus OB juga” begitu rekan sesama OB menggugat.

Houtman tidak patah semangat, dicibir teman-teman bahkan rekan sesama staf pun tidak membuat goyah. Houtman terus mengasah keterampilan dan berbagi membantu rekan kerjanya yang lain. Hanya membantulah yang bisa diberikan oleh Houtman, karena materi tidak ia miliki. Houtman tidak pernah lama dalam memegang suatu jabatan, sama seperti ketika menjadi OB yang haus akan ilmu baru. Houtman selalu mencoba tantangan dan pekerjaan baru. Sehingga karir Houtman melesat bak panah meninggalkan rekan sesama OB bahkan staff yang mengajarinya tentang istilah bank.

19 tahun kemudian sejak Houtman masuk sebagai Office Boy di The First National City Bank, Houtman mencapai jabatan tertingginya yaitu Vice President. Sebuah jabatan puncak citibank di Indonesia. Jabatan tertinggi citibank sendiri berada di USA yaitu Presiden Director yang tidak mungkin dijabat oleh orang Indonesia.

Sampai dengan saat ini belum ada yang mampu memecahkan rekor Houtman masuk sebagai OB pensiun sebagai Vice President, dan hanya berpendidikan SMA. Houtman pun kini pensiun dengan berbagai jabatan pernah diembannya, menjadi staf ahli citibank asia pasifik, menjadi penasehat keuangan salah satu gubernur, menjabat CEO di berbagai perusahaan dan menjadi inspirator bagi banyak orang.

Sumber : Jonathan Simamora for Koranbaru.com

Workshop: MARKETING DAN RISET KONSUMEN DENGAN APLIKASI MICROSOFT EXCEL

2010-10-27T10:10:00.000+07:00

The Jakarta Project present:

MARKETING DAN RISET KONSUMEN DENGAN APLIKASI MICROSOFT EXCEL

Jika berbicara mengenai Marketing dan bagaimana Konsumen berperilaku, banyak orang menganggap hal itu berhubungan dengan kegiatan yang bersifat 'kualitatif', lebih menonjolkan unsur seni daripada sekian deret perhitungan kuantitatif.

Namun demikian, mempelajari Marketing serta Perilaku Konsumen tidaklah lengkap jika mengabaikan unsur science, seperti model sikap Fishbein, model Penugasan dan sebagainya. Kompetisi yang semakin ketat, Lingkungan Pemasaran yang cepat berubah, dinamika Perilaku Konsumen, semua itu tentu tidak bisa mengandalkan feeling semata, namun harus dilengkapi dengan Sistem Informasi Pemasaran yang berfungsi sebagai Decision Support System.

Dengan kemajuan aplikasi teknologi informasi, dapat membantu pekerjaan bidang Marketing untuk mengolah data Marketing dalam jumlah besar, dengan model-model yang relevan, untuk menghasilkan informasi yang membantu pengambilan keputusan di bidang Marketing dengan menggunakan APLIKASI MICROSOFT EXCEL.

MATERI WORKSHOP

PEMBUATAN MODEL PADA MARKETING

Model Spreadsheet

Model Tabel

Model Goal Seek

Model Scenario

Linear Programming

Customer Retention

Marketing Profitability

Customer Value

Customer Price Performance

RISET PERILAKU KONSUMEN

Model Sikap Fishbein

Fishbein Extended

Model Angka Ideal

Self Image

Buying Decision Process

Semantic Differential

Importance Performance Analysis

RISET MERK

Brand Association dengan Uji Cochran

Brand Switching dengan Markov Chain

Forecasting

Market Demand

Elastisitas Harga dan Promosi

Database Marketing

Waktu Workshop:

Sabtu dan Minggu: 08.00 - 17.00

Biaya: Rp. 3.500.000,-

Mahasiswa: Rp. 2.000.000,-

Directed by: Andino Maseleno, S.T., M.Eng.

Target peserta:

Marketing Director, Marketing Manager, Product/Brand Manager atau top dan

middle management dari divisi Business Development, R & D dan produksi. Industri mencakup: CONSUMER GOODS (makanan dan minuman, farmasi, personal care, otomotif, elektronik, telekomunikasi), CONSUMER SERVICES (banking, asuransi, pembiayaan, hotel, rumah sakit, transportasi) dan B to B ( distribusi, suplier bahan baku).

Fasilitas:

Modul dan CD Workshop

Lunch

Sertifikat The Jakarta Project

Member of The Jakarta Project

Konsultasi

Pendaftaran:

The Jakarta Project

Jakarta:

Jalan Siaga Raya No. 23 Pejaten, Pasar Minggu, Jakarta Selatan

CP: 0811-724909, 021-97382413

Batam: 0778 7809490

Mohon berkenan untuk menyebarkan informasi ini kepada rekan-rekan anda.

2010-10-26T08:41:00.001+07:00

Zhang Da, Bocah Luar Biasa

2010-10-26T08:18:00.000+07:00

Seorang anak di Tiongkok pada 27 Januari 2006 mendapat penghargaan tinggi dari pemerintahnya karena dinyatakan telah melakukan “PERBUATAN LUAR BIASA”.

Diantara 9 orang peraih penghargaan itu, dia merupakan satu – satunya anak – anak yang terpilih dari 1,4 milyar penduduk China.

Yang membuatnya dianggap luar biasa ternyata adalah perhatian dan pengabdian pada ayahnya, senantiasa kerja keras dan pantang menyerah, serta perilaku dan ucapannya yang menimbulkan rasa simpati.

Sejak dia berusia 10 tahun (tahun 2001) anak ini ditinggal pergi oleh ibunya yang sudah tidak tahan lagi hidup bersama suaminya yang sakit keras dan miskin.

Sejak itu Zhang Da, demikian nama anak itu, hidup dengan sang ayah yang tidak bekerja, tidak bisa berjalan dan sakit – sakitan.

Dia masih terlalu kecil untuk memikul tanggung jawab yang berat itu, namun dia tetap berjuang.

Dia bersekolah dengan berjalan kaki melewati hutan kecil. Karena tidak sarapan, diperjalanan itu dia makan daun – daun, biji – bijian dan buah – buahan yang dia temui.

Kadang dia mencoba memakan sejenis jamur atau rumput, sehingga dia tahu mana yang masih bisa diterima lidahnya dan mana yang tidak.

Pulang sekolah, dia bekerja membelah batu – batu besar. Upah sebagai tukang batu digunakan untuk membeli beras dan obat – obatan untuk ayahnya.

Setiap hari dia menggendong ayahnya kekamar mandi, menyeka dan juga memandikan ayahnya.

Dia membeli beras dan membuatkan bubur untuk makan ayahnya.

Segala urusan ayahnya lainnya pun dia yang mengerjakannya sendirian.

Obat yang mahal dan jauhnya tempat berobat membuat Zhang Da berpikir untuk menemukan cara terbaik untuk mengobati sang ayah.

Dia pun belajar tentang obat – obatan melalui sebuah buku bekas yang dia beli.

Dia mempelajari bagaimana seorang suster memberikan suntikan.

Setelah merasa mampu, dia sendiri yang menyuntik ayahnya.

Ketika acara penganugerahan penghargaan tersebut berlangsung, pembawa acara bertanya apa yang diinginkan Zhang Da “Apakah uang atau lainnya. Disini ada banyak pejabat, pengusaha, juga ada ratusan juta penonton telivisi, mereka bisa membantu mu…!”

Namun apa yang dikatakan Zhang Da sungguh mengejutkan siapapun, dia hanya berkata, : “Aku hanya ingin Mama ku kembali…!.”

Kisah di atas bukan saja mengharukan namun juga menimbulkan kekaguman.

Seorang anak berusia 10 tahun dapat menjalankan tanggung jawab yang berat selama 5 tahun.

Kesulitan hidup telah menempa anak tersebut menjadi sosok anak yang tangguh dan pantang menyerah.

Zhang Da boleh dibilang langka karena sangat berbeda dengan anak –anak modern.

Saat ini banyak anak yang segala sesuatunya selalu dimudahkan oleh orang tuanya.

Karena alasan sayang, orang tua selalu membantu anaknya, meskipun sang anak sudah mampu melakukannya.

Ada anak yang sudah sekolah di SD masih disuapi, dan memakai bajupun masih dibantu.

Interview with google's founder Sergey Brin

2010-10-16T08:57:00.001+07:00

Kisah Pemimpin Redaksi ELLE

2010-10-16T08:11:00.001+07:00

Rasanya kita semua tidak kenal dengan orang yang bernama Jean-Dominique Bauby,
kecuali Anda perempuan dan berbahasa Perancis atau suka membaca majalah bernama
Elle. Ia pemimpin redaksi Elle. Tahun 1996 ia meninggal dalam usia 45 tahun
setelah menyelesaikan memoarnya yang "ditulisnya" secara sangat istimewa dan
diberinya judul Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Bubble and the Butterfly).

Tahun 1995 ia terkena stroke yang menyebabkan seluruh tubuhnya lumpuh. Ia
mengalami apa yang disebut 'locked-in syndrome', kelumpuhan total yang
disebutnya 'seperti pikiran di dalam botol'. Memang ia masih dapat berpikir
jernih tetapi sama sekali tidak bisa berbicara maupun bergerak. Satu-satunya
otot yang masih dapat diperintahnya adalah kelopak mata kirinya. Jadi itulah
caranya berkomunikasi dengan para perawatnya, dokter rumah sakit, keluarga dan
temannya. Mereka menunjukkan huruf demi huruf dan si Jean akan berkedip bila
huruf yang ditunjukkan adalah yang dipilihnya. "Bukan main", kata Anda. Ya, itu
juga reaksi semua yang membaca kisahnya. Buat kita, kegiatan menulis mungkin
sepele dan menjadi hal yang biasa. Namun, kalau kita disuruh "menulis" dengan
cara si Jean, barangkali kita harus menangis dulu berhari-hari.

Betapa mengagumkan tekad dan semangat hidup maupun kemauannya untuk tetap
menulis dan membagikan kisah hidupnya yang begitu luar biasa. Ia meninggal 3
hari setelah bukunya diterbitkan. Jadi, "Berapapun problem dan stress dan beban
hidup kita semua, hampir tidak ada artinya dibandingkan dengan si Jean!"

Apa yang a.l. ditulisnya di memoarnya itu?
"I would be the happiest man in the world if I could just properly swallow the
saliva that permanently invades my mouth".

Bayangkan, menelan ludah pun ia tak mampu :-(. Jadi kita yang masih bisa makan
bakmi, ngga usahlah Bakmi Gajah Mada, indomie yang Rp 500 saja, seharusnya sudah
berbahagia 100 kali lipat dibanding si Jean. Kita bahkan senantiasa mengeluh,
setiap hari, sepanjang tahun. We are the constant whiners.

Apa lagi yang dikerjakan Jean di dalam kelumpuhan totalnya selain menulis buku?
Ia mendirikan suatu asosiasi penderita 'locked-in syndrome' untuk membantu
keluarga penderita. Ia juga menjadi "bintang film" alias memegang peran di dalam
suatu film yang dibuat TV Perancis yang menceritakan kisahnya. Ia merencanakan
buku lainnya setelah ia selesai menulis yang pertama. Pokoknya ia hidup seperti
yang dikehendaki Penciptanya, 'to celebrate life', to do something good for
others.

source: http://www.airputih.tk

Lotfi Zadeh and Fuzzy Logic

2010-10-15T13:21:00.001+07:00

Russians in NY aided '$3M bank hack'

2010-10-14T14:56:00.000+07:00

A baby-faced band of "money mules" helped an Eastern European hackerring transfer $3 million in cash it pilfered from American bank accounts, federal prosecutors in New York said yesterday.

The group, including several women who are college co-eds here on student visas, was allegedly tasked with opening hundreds of bank accounts used to receive the stolen funds.

For instance, Kristina Svechinskaya, 21 -- one of nine people arrested yesterday in connection with a series of cases involving more than 80 defendants -- opened at least five bank accounts used to transfer $35,000 of the loot, the feds said.

Using computer viruses spread through innocuous-seeming e-mails, the hackers were able to gain access to bank accounts of small businesses and individuals, US Attorney Preet Bharara said.

"The mouse and the keyboard can be far more effective than the gun and the mask," Bharara said.

He said the victims of the "Zeus Trojan" software had accounts at five different banks throughout the country.

The four women arrested today were ordered held without bail after hearings in Manhattan federal court yesterday.

The software the hackers used is known as an Internet banking Trojan, which can steal computer-access data, including user names and passwords for bank accounts, e-mail accounts and social-networking Web sites.

The program would gain access to the computer when a victim clicked on a link or opened a file attached to a seemingly legitimate e-mail message.

Once the program was engaged, computer hackers could secretly monitor the victim's computer activity, enabling them to obtain bank-account numbers, passwords and authentication information, the FBI said.

Once the money was stolen, it was transferred into accounts set up by the money mules, the FBI said.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said people from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus who had obtained student visas to come to the United States were recruited through social-networking sites and newspaper advertisements.

They opened hundreds of US bank accounts for fraudulent purposes, Vance said.

Money stolen from the victims would allegedly be deposited into the bank accounts and then transferred in smaller amounts elsewhere.

In return, the mules would keep 8 to 10 percent for themselves before sending the rest to others involved in the scheme.

Source: http://www.nypost.com

Determination

2008-11-07T10:36:00.000+07:00

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.

"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.

He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.

Gateway M210

2008-11-07T10:18:00.001+07:00

The M210S is attractively configured for a $1288 laptop, starting with 14.1-inch widescreen that should be just right for people who would like a little more horizontal screen real estate without having to put up with an unwieldy notebook. The M210S will fit on a lap or airline tray table without overhang, and its native resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels keeps screen elements large enough to read easily.

At 5.3 pounds, the M210S is lighter than the other 14-inch wide screen we looked at, the Compaq Presario V2000. The M210S's rear-mounted battery lasted for 3.4 hours. Equipped with the review group's slowest processor--a 1.6-GHz Pentium M 715--the M210S we tested earned a WorldBench 5 score of 69, in line with the marks earned by similarly configured notebooks.

The M210S was a pleasure to use, thanks to a touchpad-equipped keyboard that we found firm, level, well laid out, and easy to type on. An easy-to-read system status panel is conveniently situated beneath the mouse buttons. The power button, located at the top of the keyboard, adds some panache to the keyboard with its oblong shape and bright blue LED. The M210S's fixed, right-side, multiformat DVD drive works well, and a trio of USB 2.0 ports march single-file down the right side of the case, within easy reach. The M210S's memory card reader accepts only SD Cards, but the slot is stylishly tucked under the curved front of the case. We had to feel around for the slot a bit at first but soon came to appreciate how its positioning enabled us quickly pop cards in and out.

All of the audio ports, including a cool volume jog dial, are located on the front. Unfortunately, the M210S's speakers are so weak that you'll probably need headphones to enjoy a DVD movie or external speakers to make a satisfactory presentation. The only common feature that the M210S lacks is a TV-out port--a must only if you plan on watching movies (or presenting work) on a TV screen. The M210S comes loaded with Microsoft Works 8.

The M210S has a removable hard drive and a base 256MB of RAM built into the motherboard. Users can access one upgradable memory slot; it's located in a compartment on the bottom of the laptop.

Gateway's once lavishly designed and detailed printed manuals aren't what they used to be. All you get with the M210S is a small, plain booklet, and the networking information formerly available in print is now offered separately as an Acrobat manual on the hard drive. But the documentation covers everything you need to know about the laptop.

Upshot: Lightweight and well equipped, the M210S would make a good starter laptop for consumers looking to get their feet wet in the wide-screen world.

Source: PCWorld.com,

Dell Inspiron 6000

2008-11-07T09:54:00.001+07:00

You can see more on the Dell Inspiron 6000's wide screen than on most other 15.4-inch displays thanks to its WUXGA resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels. In fact, you can work with higher-resolution photographs, more spreadsheet columns, and more tiled documents simultaneously on the Inspiron 6000 than you can on some 17-inch wide screens. (The Inspiron 6000 is also available with a 1280-by-800-pixel WXGA screen or a 1680-by-1050-pixel WSXGA+ screen for $150 less or $50 less, respectively.)

This 6000 has a lot more going for it than just its extra-high-resolution screen. We didn't test the 6000's standard six-cell battery; but we did test the nine-cell battery (a $99 option), and it lasted an impressive 5 hours and 7 minutes on one charge, making the 6000 an excellent candidate for the road--if you don't mind its 7.5-pound weight (sans power adapter). An extra-fancy external power gauge helps you keep track of when you'll need to recharge.

The Inspiron 6000 is a smoothly designed, handsome laptop with a sloped front and cream-colored trim. Our unit had a multiformat DVD burner, plus FireWire and TV-out ports and four USB 2.0 ports, all placed for easy use. The 6000 accepts user upgrades easily. Like many laptops, it has two memory slots located in a compartment on the bottom of the laptop. But instead of residing in dovetailed slots, the modules lie side by side--an unusual arrangement that makes them more accessible than most. The hard drive is a breeze to remove, too: Just unscrew its bottom panel and tug the drive out through the right side of the case. Though the optical drive doesn't have a lever for popping it out, you can boost it out by its lower edge after removing a security screw on the bottom of the case.

The 6000 disappointed us in only a few areas. We missed having an external switch for controlling Wi-Fi scanning (you have to use a software utility instead). And the 6000's memory card reader accepts only Secure Digital cards for exchanging data with PDAs, cameras, and other digital equipment, leaving Memory Sticks, CompactFlash cards, and other media incompatible.

Our biggest reservation, however, relates to the Inspiron's keyboard. The layout is typical of a Dell portable--well designed and roomy--except that is buried in a cluster of -size keys. Two big, easy-to-press mouse buttons complement the touchpad. But the keys on our test unit were so stiff initially that we had to type forcefully. As we continued to type, the keyboard seemed to limber up, and we made fewer mistakes. But we still felt that we had to type more carefully than usual, not a good omen for a long-term relationship with a keyboard. If possible, try out the keyboard before buying.

You'll like the 6000's panel of dedicated CD controls and its surprisingly good stereo sound. (Only one other model in our roundup, the Fujitsu LifeBook N6010, offered better audio.) There's no instant-on button for playing discs without using Windows, but you can play CDs while the lid is closed, because the music buttons and speaker outlets remain exposed. Pressing one of the buttons momentarily lights the entire music panel's bright blue LEDs, a helpful feature in dark environments.

The 2-GHz Pentium M 760-equipped review unit did well in our speed tests, earning a WorldBench 5 score of 89, about 8 percent above the average for systems equipped with the same processor.

An Acrobat manual on the hard drive covers the 6000 thoroughly, right down to coverage of how to install new screen hinges and a new keyboard.

Upshot: With its extra-high-resolution screen and terrific built-in speakers, the Inspiron 6000 would be ideal for getting work done or watching movies.

Source: PCWorld.com, Mar 29, 2005

HP Compaq Presario M2000

2008-11-07T09:43:00.001+07:00

At first glance, we wouldn't elect the Compaq Presario M2000 the laptop we'd most enjoy cramming into a carry-on bag, but this economical desktop replacement is lighter than it looks, and it performs solidly.

The Compaq Presario M2000 is big and square--1.8 inches tall, 13.2 inches wide, and 11 inches deep--but it's very portable at 6.4 pounds. The power adapter adds less than a pound more.

The M2000 is well designed, with a large front latch that releases the bright 15-inch screen. The headphone port sits on the front of the case while the battery forms the rear. Though you can get a cheap, bare-bones configuration of this notebook if you prefer, our test unit came generously equipped. Most connections--along with our review unit's fixed DVD burner and six-in-one card reader--sit on the M2000's right side. The left side houses the laptop's PC Card slot, the network and modem jacks, the VGA connection, and an expansion port for HP's $299 optional Xb2000 Notebook Expansion Base.

If you're an audiophile or you want an HP laptop to use as a desktop replacement, we recommend that you invest in the Xb2000. This model serves as a port replicator and a notebook stand. It comes with built-in Harman/Kardon speakers, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and an internal bay capable of accommodating a 160GB hard drive. Our only beef is that you must wrestle the clunky retractable docking cable out of the back of the stand to connect it to the left side of the notebook.

Our review unit, equipped with a 1.7-GHz Pentium M processor, was a steady though not outstanding performer. In WorldBench 5 tests, this notebook slightly trailed two similarly equipped laptops--an MPC TransPort T2200 and an IBM ThinkPad T42. Our review unit's WorldBench 5 score of 72 is 11 percent below the other units' average score of 81.

The M2000 is comfortable to use. The keyboard has a firm feel, though its keys don't depress very far. The all-black lettering on the light-gray keys doesn't jump out, but it's readable. The keyboard's excellent layout places the and keys in opposite corners where our fingers could fly right to them. The touchpad is more rectangular than most, with stamped vertical and horizontal lines that show you where to run your finger to scroll. A set of press-and-hold volume buttons and a Wi-Fi switch top off the keyboard.

Upgrading the M2000 should be easy. The hard drive and two memory slots reside beneath black (and stylishly grooved) bottom panels held in place by a couple of small screws each.

At press time, the M2000 in our review configuration cost $1284. This price is on the high side for a budget laptop, but it includes Microsoft Works, a good basic applications suite. For a more stylish version of the laptop, with longer battery life but a slightly slower processor, check out HP's Pavilion Ze2000.

Upshot: The Compaq Presario M2000 equipped with a DVD burner makes a well-rounded home laptop for users who don't care about sleek looks.

Source: PCWorld.com, Feb 26, 2005

Sharp Actius MP30 Notebook

2008-11-07T09:38:00.001+07:00

"Aw, how cute!" might be your first reaction to the 2.8-pound, all-white Sharp Actius MP30. This uniquely designed ultraportable looks toylike, but it performed well for its class.

The MP30's fixed, front-mounted DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive doubles as a personal DVD player--albeit an expensive one. Press the aquamarine DVD/CD button on the left side of the case, and watch movies or listen to CDs without starting Windows. The MP30 comes with only one speaker, which is typical for an ultraportable, and the monaural sound is lousy. Sharp bundles earbuds and a small remote control; that gives you more stuff to keep track of, but it's better than using the keyboard to control volume and music tracks.

The MP30 performs one other neat trick: It functions as a USB hard drive. Using Sharp's built-in DirectHD technology and a bundled, proprietary USB cable, you can view the laptop's contents on another PC. The MP30 shows up as a drive letter in the host PC's Windows Explorer; just drag and drop files between them just as you would with any other external storage device.

The well-designed MP30 has all the connections you'll need for work. The only major omissions are a video-out port (for using a TV as a monitor) and a parallel port. The only significant problem we encountered was with the optical drive: Its drive tray occasionally wouldn't stay shut, forcing us to push it in repeatedly. The 10.4-inch LCD looks sharp.

The keyboard, which features a petite silver-skinned touchpad, felt a little cramped and shallow with its 17mm key pitch and 1.7mm keystroke (compared with a full-size laptop's 19mm key pitch and 3mm keystroke). Some important functions, such as Page Up and Page Down, require combination keystrokes. On the bright side, however, the all-important and keys are located in opposite corners for quick access. Overall, the layout is good enough to support touch typing after some practice.

The MP30 managed e-mail, word processing, and basic spreadsheet and graphics work reasonably well, but its WorldBench 5 score was among the worst registered by an ultraportable notebook. Equipped with a 1.6-GHz Transmeta Efficeon TM8800 processor, the MP30 earned a WorldBench 5 score of 50. Laptops we've tested with a more mainstream ultraportable processor, the 1.1-GHz Pentium ultra-low-voltage chip, earned a score of 56 on average; that's about 12 percent faster. An IBM ThinkPad x40 equipped with a 1.2-GHz Pentium M low-voltage chip earned a score of 55, about 10 percent faster.

The entire ultraportable class is slow compared with full-size laptops carrying Intel's fastest mobile chip to date, the 2-GHz Pentium M. Those laptops have earned scores as high as 92 in our tests, indicating that they're nearly twice as fast as the MP30. The rear-mounted battery lasted 3 hours on one charge.

Like many ultraportables, the MP30 limits users' upgrade options. The 40GB hard drive is not user accessible, and the only memory slot is located in a compartment on the bottom of the notebook.

Upshot: The Sharp Actius MP30 is for people who prefer low price, high style, and small size to pure performance.

Source: PCWorld.com, Feb 26, 2005

Sys Technology Mobile Elite M2000

2008-11-07T07:57:00.002+07:00

The stylish and lightweight Sys Technology MobileElite travels easily; and thanks to a Linux-based DVD and CD player application, it (in theory) doubles as a stand-alone entertainment unit.

According to Sys Technology, the Power Cinema Launch button--which sits next to the standard power button--lets you watch DVDs, listen to CDs, or view a slide show of your digital photographs on the notebook's 12.1-inch wide-aspect screen without booting into Windows. Unfortunately, the button on our test unit was not set up to launch the necessary application, which runs on Linux within a hidden disk partition, so we couldn't test this feature.

Where work is concerned, the 4.6-pound, black-and-silver portable is well-equipped, with a multiformat DVD burner, a four-in-one card reader, a FireWire port, and a TV-out port. A plastic placeholder protects the one PC Card slot. You get three USB ports: one on either side of the case, and a third tucked away on the bottom for attaching a mouse or keyboard. The small keyboard feels slightly confining, but all the keys are large enough and well enough laid out to permit touch typing. A key is located conveniently in the upper right corner. We did stumble over the horizontally arranged and keys. (The standard vertical arrangement is much more intuitive.)

In our performance tests, the MobileElite turned in a WorldBench 5 score of 88, a good showing for a laptop equipped with a 2-GHz Pentium M 755 processor and 512MB of RAM. (The fastest laptop with this processor we've seen earned a mark of 92.) The Sys notebook performed below average for ultraportables in battery tests, lasting 3.2 hours on one battery charge.

Though the MobileElite's two memory slots and hard drive share the same large, easy-to-access bottom compartment--permitting painless upgrades--we have a few reservations about this laptop's design. We found the system status panel, which runs down the right side of the keyboard, less than useful. Rather than having LEDs light below corresponding printed icons to denote the system task, Sys arranges for the icons to flash so briefly that it's hard to tell which task is active.

We also experienced a few false starts before getting the optical drive to work. The eject button lies across a seam on the beveled left side of the laptop, and you must carefully press the bottom part of the button below the seam to activate the drive tray.

Source: PCWorld.com, Feb 26, 2005

WinBook C240

2008-11-06T20:53:00.001+07:00

This inexpensive laptop isn't fancy, but it satisfies a home user's basic hardware needs.

For $1200 (as of press time), you get a combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, four USB ports, FireWire, a 14.1-inch screen, and Wi-Fi on this lightweight (5.7 pounds, not including power adapter) laptop. One thing the price doesn't cover is significant bundled application software.

The C240 is easy to upgrade. The 60GB hard drive sits in a user-accessible bottom compartment covered by a panel that's secured by two small screws. A removable memory card slot resides in a separate bottom compartment protected by a cover that four screws hold in. (You also get 256MB of RAM built in to the motherboard.)

The C240 is comfortable to use. We liked the touchpad-equipped keyboard. Though the keys feel squishy, their white-and-blue lettering is easy to read and the layout is good, especially if you make liberal use of the entire row of function keys at the top of the keyboard.

The C240 has weaker sound than most laptops its size. Its stereo audio, emitted from speakers at the top of the keyboard, won't give music lovers much to tap their toes about; but the headphone port is within easy reach on the left side of the case.

For a relatively inexpensive laptop, the C240 performed well. Equipped with a 1.6-GHz Pentium M 725 and 512MB of RAM, the C240 earned a WorldBench 5 score of 71, comparable to the marks that similarly equipped competitors posted. (The Acer Aspire 2000 and Compaq NC6000 received scores of 75 and 74, respectively--a statistically insignificant 5 percent ahead.) So if you like to ditch the power cord for a few hours down at the coffee shop and multitask with mainstream applications, the C240 can do the job. The C240 performed slightly below average in our battery-life tests. A single battery charge lasted 1 minute short of 3 hours.

Upshot: The WinBook C240, which offers all of the must-have features plus Wi-Fi at a low price, is a fine first laptop for home buyers.

WinBook C240

WorldBench 5 score of 71, 1.6-GHz Pentium M 725, 512MB of DDR333 SDRAM, Windows XP Professional, 14.1-inch screen, 60GB hard drive, DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, built-in V.92 modem and 10/100 ethernet, 802.11g, touchpad pointing device, 6.6-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty, 10-hour weekday toll-free support.

Source: PCWorld.com, Feb 26, 2005

Sony Vaio VGN-T150PL Notebook

2008-11-06T20:51:00.001+07:00

If you're heading out for the day, just drop the Sony VAIO VGN-T150P/L in your bag and go. You won't need to bring along a power adapter, thanks to this 3-pound ultraportable's record-setting battery life.

In our tests, the VGN-T150P/L ran for a little over 7 hours on one charge of its small but strong rear-mounted battery. That's enough juice to power back-to-back DVD movies on the clear 10.6-inch wide-aspect screen (which uses Sony's Xbrite technology). Despite the presence of a 'DVD' button, the VGN-T150P/L cannot act as a stand-alone CD or DVD player; the button launches the DVD player only while Windows is running. The VGN-T150P/L does come with handy volume control buttons on the front of the case and with CD track buttons at the top of the keyboard.

Most likely, you won't be blasting music on the VGN-T150P/L's built-in stereo speakers (unusual components on an ultraportable). Speaker sound is weak, so you'll still need the headphone port located on the front of the case.

Features are ample but not extravagant. Though the VGN-T150P/L lacks a video-out port for displaying the screen on a TV, it has a built-in DVDA?RW drive, a FireWire port, two USB ports, and a Sony Memory Stick slot. Removable hard plastic covers protect the modem and network jacks--a nice touch until you lose the covers. The VGN-T150P/L comes with Microsoft Works. For multimedia fans, this notebook comes with DVgate Plus video capture and editing software, SonicStage Mastering Studio music software, and PictureGear Studio photo software.

Given the notebook's size, the touchpad-equipped keyboard is inevitably cramped, and some functions such as Page Up and Page Down require combination keystrokes. Still, the layout is good and the white-on-black lettering is easy to read. We could touch-type on it easily.

Like most ultraportables, the VGN-T150P/L does not brim with upgrade options. You can't access the 40GB hard drive, so you'll have to send the VGN-T150P/L to a service center if the drive ever fails or if you want to swap it out for a higher-capacity drive some day. To reach the two memory slots, you need to remove three bottom screws and detach the keyboard.

The VGN-T150P/L runs mainstream applications well, but we wouldn't recommend it for big processing tasks. Our test unit was almost 40 percent slower than the fastest full-size laptop we've reviewed (which was equipped with a 2-Ghz Pentium M processor). The VGN-T150P/L performed on a par with comparable ultraportables, however, matching the WorldBench 5 score of 56 earned by the Fujitsu LifeBook P7010D, which is likewise equipped with a 1.1-GHz Pentium M processor and 512MB of RAM.

Upshot: The price is a bit steep, but for all-day, on-the-go multimedia computing, Sony's VAIO VGN-T150P/L is the new champ.

Source: PCWorld.com, Feb 26, 2005

HP Pavilion ZE2000

2008-11-06T12:29:00.001+07:00

The HP Pavilion Ze2000 is the better-looking sibling of the HP Compaq Presario M2000. Large but not heavy, this mainstream laptop will suit consumers looking for a good home desktop replacement that won't break the bank.

Like the M2000, the Ze2000 is surprisingly light--6.4 pounds without its power adapter. The sloped front and back give the case a stylish parallelogram shape, the white-and-blue lettering on the black keyboard is easier to read than the M2000's black-on-gray keys. The Ze2000's keyboard feels firm and has a good layout, though its keys' travel is somewhat shallow. Its slim touchpad has dedicated vertical and horizontal scroll zones.

The Ze2000 held its own against similarly equipped models. In WorldBench 5 tests, it scored a 67, tying the mark posted by an IBM ThinkPad R51 with the same 1.5-GHz Pentium M processor.

Both the Ze2000 and the Presario M2000 offer the same features, right down to the nontraditional placement of the display connector on the left side of the case. (The battery occupies the back.) Most other options--including a fixed optical drive, a six-in-one card reader, and USB and FireWire ports--are located on the right side. HP lets buyers drop the combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive on our $1174 test unit in favor of a multiformat DVD burner for an extra $75. HP also bundles Microsoft Works with this model.

You can upgrade the Ze2000's hard drive and memory, but the model's most alluring expansion option may be HP's optional ($299) Xb2000 Notebook Expansion Base, which lets you turn the laptop into a full-fledged desktop replacement. Despite its use of a clunky retractable cable, we like the base's versatility: It serves as a port replicator/notebook stand with great-sounding built-in Harman/Kardon speakers and as an internal bay that can accommodate a 160GB hard drive. A wireless keyboard and mouse are included.

Without the Notebook Expansion Base, the Ze2000 delivers mediocre sound typical of a laptop. Emitted from outlets on the sloped front of the case and controlled by volume buttons atop the keyboard, the audio is loud enough for casual use but too weak for impressive presentations or movie experiences.

Upshot: This well-rounded notebook delivers decent performance and battery life for a reasonable price.

PCWorld.com, Feb 26, 2005

Mio Kaypro R1000

2008-11-06T12:14:00.000+07:00

Try using the lid latch to open the R1000's 15-inch screen, and--April Fool's!--you'll discover that it's just a clever optical illusion created by case colors that mimic a release. This odd design element aside, the R1000 is a pretty good laptop--just a little thin on features for $1735, a price that doesn't include business applications.

In the plus column, the R1000 weighs just 6.8 pounds (not including the power adapter), despite big screen hinges that make it look heavier. It sports a good keyboard and includes all the standard laptop connections, including a bonus S/PDIF port, located handily on the front of the case. An optical drive lock, an all-too-rare and useful feature, prevents accidental ejects.

On the downside, the drive is only a CD burner, not the DVD burner usually found in this price range. The stereo speakers are among the tinniest we've heard on a laptop, which is too bad considering the R1000 has a nice volume thumbwheel.

The laptop's rear-mounted battery lasted a long time in our tests--5 minutes shy of 4 hours on one charge. Finally, the R1000 slightly lagged competitors in our speed tests. Its WorldBench 5 score of 67 was about 10 percent behind similarly equipped laptops.

Upshot: Great battery life fails to outweigh the Kaypro R1000's skimpy features and so-so performance.

Premio Kaypro R1000

WorldBench 5 score of 67, 1.6-GHz Pentium M 725, 512MB of DDR333 SDRAM, Windows XP Professional, 15-inch screen, 60GB hard drive, CD-RW drive, built-in V.92 modem and 10/100 ethernet, 802.11g, touchpad pointing device, 8.3-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty, 10-hour weekday toll-free support.

Source: PCWorld.com, Jan 26, 2005

Micro Express CL5620

2008-11-06T11:26:00.001+07:00

Thanks to a dark bluish-silver case with a chic black touchpad, the Micro Express CL5620 looks sleek. Despite its large screen--a beautiful 15-inch display with a high resolution of 1400 by 1050--the laptop is easy to carry, at 6.3 pounds (not including its power adapter). The extra-firm keyboard is topped by two unlabeled, programmable application launch buttons; and a multiformat DVD burner sits conveniently in the front.

Although missing the latest laptop features such as a built-in memory card reader, the CL5620 includes all the commonly used connections, including Wi-Fi and FireWire. The unit is easy to upgrade as well: By removing one bottom screw, you can pull the hard drive out of the right side of the unit by its attached cover. However, pass up the CL5620 if stereo sound is important to you. As with most portables, its bass-weak stereo speakers don't sound very full or realistic.

But the CL5620 has looks--and performance that cooks. Our 2-GHz Pentium M-equipped test unit lasted an impressive 4 hours in our battery tests and then handily polished off a competitor in our speed tests. With its WorldBench 5 score of 97, the CL5620 breezed past a similarly equipped laptop--this month's ChemBook 2037--which scored 89, by 8 percent. That's not a huge difference in speed, but it should be enough to save a few seconds in heavier duty tasks, such as recalculating a big spreadsheet.

Upshot: The Micro Express CL5620 delivers simple elegance and top performance.

Source: PCWorld.com, Jan 26, 2005

Chem USA Chembook 2037

2008-11-05T11:54:00.001+07:00

The 7.7-pound ChemBook 2037 is a laptop of many talents. It has a built-in camera, loads of connections on the front, and a long-lasting battery that pulls double duty as an ergonomic foot. With so much going for it, you may be able to forgive the 2037's blemishes: a very stiff lid and a poorly designed control switch.

The ChemBook 2037's small VGA-resolution PC camera, embedded in the top edge of its 15.4-inch wide-angle screen, can take fairly sharp stills or smooth 30-frames-per-second videos with sound saved in the AVI format. The video capability means no more futzing with an add-on Webcam.

If you prefer to have your connections within plain view and easy reach, you'll love that the FireWire port, four-in-one media card slot, three audio jacks, and three application hotkeys all sit smack dab on the front of the notebook. You can quickly download video from your digital camcorder, copy data off an SD Card or Memory Stick, or plug in headphones without hunting for a connection on the side or back. The three USB 2.0 ports are also conveniently located, just around the corners.

A combination Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/camera switch on the front of the notebook is the most annoying aspect of the 2037's design. The switch toggles all three functions off and on, with no separate control. If you want to turn on Wi-Fi but leave the camera off, for instance, you have to use the appropriate software utility. (Our model did not come with Bluetooth.)

Unlike with most laptops, whose batteries are flush with the case, the 2037's oversized rear power pack adds three-quarters of an inch to the laptop's height. The extra height pays off in a nice typing slant for the touchpad-equipped keyboard. The extra-big battery also lasted 4.2 hours in our tests. The 2037 used a 2-GHz Pentium M 755-equipped unit and 1GB of RAM to earn a WorldBench 5 score of 89, placing it slightly behind other similarly configured notebooks.

It's not difficult to reach the 2037's hard drive or memory slots for upgrades, but you have to remove a larger number than usual. The hard drive shares a large bottom compartment with the laptop's Wi-Fi card, under a big panel held on by seven small screws; you'll have to remove four more screws to release the hard drive itself. The laptop's two RAM slots, both filled in our test unit, sit in a separate compartment under a cover held on by five screws.

The 2037's DVD-RW drive looks fixed, but in fact it's not. It's easy to remove, using a slightly more unusual method--you unscrew a small plastic plug from the bottom of the laptop, poke a finger in the space, and boost the drive out by its bottom edge.

Like most laptops, the 2037 doesn't offer very good built-in sound, despite cool-looking stereo speakers embedded in the screen bezel. However, audio is loud enough that you can enjoy a DVD movie at close range.

The ChemBook 2037's user manuals, provided in both printed and Acrobat form, are a tad difficult to peruse, but they cover the notebook's features adequately.

Upshot: With its built-in camera and long-lasting battery, the ChemBook 2037 is a desktop replacement that can help you get work done on the go.

Source: PCWorld.com, Jan 26, 2005

WinBook X Series

2008-11-05T11:34:00.001+07:00

At just 4.6 pounds, the WinBook X540 is the most portable combination laptop-DVD player we've seen yet. The Power Cinema launch button, which sits next to the power button, lets you watch DVDs, listen to CDs, or view a slide show of your digital photographs without having to first launch Windows. But the experience is not perfect.

The built-in stereo speakers--which emit sound from outlets on the laptop's short, sloped front--are weak, and the X540 has no volume or playback-control buttons. You have to use software to control music playback and to play DVD movies. We could also complain about the uneven-looking Power Cinema application, in which a polished Media Center-like CD player interface sits cheek by jowl with a DVD player that consists of a row of bare-bones buttons along the bottom of the screen. But that would be picky--the X540 is still a cool little multimedia machine.

Among ultraportable laptops, the stylish and well-equipped X540 holds its own and then some. The small black unit with snazzy silver lid and accent stripe includes a nice 12.1-inch screen, a multiformat DVD burner, a three-in-one media card reader, a FireWire port, and a TV-out port, in addition to the other laptop connections. There's one PC Card slot, filled with a white placeholder. The X540 even manages to squeeze in three USB ports: one on either side of the case for quick plug-ins, plus a third tucked away on the bottom of the laptop behind a removable cover, for a mouse or keyboard.

We found the X540's slightly cramped keyboard a little mushier than we prefer, but it's laid out well enough for fast touch typing, including a Delete key located conveniently in the upper-right corner. Our only serious complaint is the horizontal, rather than vertical, arrangement of the Page Up and Page Down keys. The X540 is easy to upgrade, with two user-accessible memory slots and the 80GB hard drive sharing a bottom compartment.

A good performer, the X540 comes with Intel's 2-GHz Pentium M 755 chip and 512MB of RAM, which helped earn it a pretty good WorldBench 5 score of 83. (It lagged a similarly equipped laptop we tested by 6 percent--the Acer TravelMate--which earned a score of 89.) Away from an electrical outlet, you can expect the X540's rear-mounted battery to last about 3 hours, judging from our tests.

We could find little wrong with the X540. It has no parallel port, a legacy connection often omitted from ultraportables. We found the system status panel, which runs down the right side of the keyboard, less than useful because of its opaqueness. It also took some time to get used to the optical-drive eject button, which lies across a beveled edge--you have to press the part of the button below the edge or it won't eject the tray. We're disappointed that WinBook, which once bundled an excellent printed user manual, has gone the way of other PC vendors by switching to electronic documentation for the most part. But the X540 itself? A winner.

Upshot: The X540 offers trendy ultraportability with its fast Intel processor, state-of-the-art optical drive, huge 80GB hard drive, and the capability to act as a stand-alone DVD player.

Acer Aspire 1520

2008-11-05T11:21:00.001+07:00

Looking for an inexpensive laptop that caters to your southpaw? You might appreciate the fact that the $1199 Acer Aspire 1520 has no right-side connections whatsoever. Lefties will enjoy having the fixed DVD±RW drive, FireWire port, and two PC Card slots on the left side of the laptop. All the other connections are on the rear.

The Aspire 1520 is not the best candidate for frequent travel. It's a thick and heavy laptop that measures almost 2 inches tall and weighs 7.7 pounds (9.5 pounds including the power adapter). However, it's a handsome black and silver unit with a good touchpad-equipped keyboard, including a four-way scroll and four application shortcut buttons. Memory and storage are upgradable--you don't even need a screwdriver to remove the hard drive, which sits behind the battery.

We haven't evaluated any other 1.8-GHz Mobile Athlon 64 3000+ processor-equipped laptops, but the Aspire 1520 held its own in our speed tests. The 1520 earned a WorldBench 5 score of 75, placing it 2 points lower than a laptop equipped with a 1.8-GHz Pentium M 745 CPU. The battery, a long, impressive-looking power pack that forms the front of the laptop, lasted 2.5 hours, a little less time than average.

Acer's Aspire Arcade application, a Microsoft Media Center-like interface that features a simple CD player application and shortcuts to DVD burning and video editing applications, adds some multimedia panache to the 1520. Unfortunately, the notebook has weak stereo speakers and lacks dedicated music- or DVD-playing buttons. You even have to adjust the volume with keystroke combinations.

We have two other complaints about the design. The audio ports and all four of the 1520's USB 2.0 ports are on the back of the case, making it a hassle to plug in a flash memory drive or a pair of headphones. Also, the Wi-Fi switch on our test unit was seated so far in the case that it was hard to activate at times.

Acer provides just one print manual, which covers both the 1520 and another Aspire model. Fortunately, it's not difficult to find the information you need about the 1520.

Upshot: Lefties looking for a budget-price desktop replacement could be happy with this unit, but its bulk makes it unsuitable for travel.

Acer Aspire 1520

WorldBench 5 score of 75, 1.8-GHz Mobile Athlon 64 3000+ processor, 512MB of DDR333 SDRAM, Windows XP Professional, 15.4-inch wide-screen, 80GB hard drive, DVD±RW drive, built-in V.92 modem and gigabit ethernet, 802.11g wireless, touchpad pointing device, 9.5-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty, 9-hour weekday toll-free support.

Source: PCWorld.com, Jan 26, 2005

WinBook V220

2008-11-05T10:41:00.000+07:00

The $1099 V220 looks impressive on a desk, with its 15-inch screen; thick, fashionably grooved case; and wide, chrome keyboard accent panel with round cooling fan grille. The case is 2.2 inches tall at the back thanks to rear peg feet, which give the touchpad-equipped keyboard a nice typing slant. The V220 weighs in at a hefty 8.7 pounds not counting the power adapter, which weighs over a pound by itself.

You get a full set of laptop connections--including FireWire--for the price, all sensibly placed and easy to reach. However, the optical drive is limited to a DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo drive, not the increasingly standard DVD burner most laptops now offer.

Like most budget laptops, the V220 does not offer much in the way of multimedia. The built-in speakers have a narrow range of volume. However, it's easy to upgrade--important if you want to add more RAM or a bigger hard drive. You'll need a screwdriver to reach the 60GB hard drive or the single under-keyboard memory slot.

The V220 is not a bad performer for an inexpensive laptop, but it didn't blaze any new trails, either. It lasted a little over 2 hours in our battery tests, and its WorldBench 5 score of 61 lagged two other notebooks we've tested with the 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 processor and 512MB of RAM by an average of 6 percent.

Joining the rest of the PC industry in cutting costs, WinBook has pared down its once-superior printed user manual to a thin reference that mostly points readers to the Windows Help and Support Center. Fortunately, the hard-drive reference is chock-full of helpful information.

Upshot: The $1099 WinBook V220 would make a handsome, capable home laptop for a budget watcher.

WinBook V220

WorldBench 5 score of 61, 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 processor, 512MB of DDR333 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 15-inch screen, 60GB hard drive, DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo drive, built-in V.92 modem and 10/100 ethernet, 802.11g, touchpad pointing device, 9.9-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty, 13-hour weekday and 7-hour weekend toll-free support.

Source: PCWorld.com, Jan 26, 2005

IBM Thinkpad T42

2008-11-05T10:35:00.001+07:00

IBM has added its first integrated fingerprint reader to select models of its flagship thin-and-light laptop, the ThinkPad T42. The sensor, embedded in the lower-right palm rest, requires that you slide a finger three times across its small window to register it. The included fingerprint software then merges the swipes into one image ID. The system protects the laptop and replaces cumbersome passwords.

Like the sensor found on the Fujitsu LifeBook P7010D we tried previously, we found IBM's slide sensor a bit more time-consuming to use than the older contact sensor windows that most fingerprint-reader-equipped laptops use. It's harder to slide a finger across a tiny sensor three times in exactly the same way than it is to merely press a finger in the comparatively large postage-stamp-size window used by contact sensors. It took us five tries--15 swipes altogether--to register our finger on the T42, and later, several tries to get the laptop to recognize our registered finger. By comparison, it usually takes only a couple of tries to register a finger in a contact sensor window. On the bright side, slide sensors can make a larger image of the finger being read, which gives the match software more data to analyze and theoretically results in tighter security.

The lightweight (5.4-pound) T42 is incredibly thin--just 1.1 inches tall with the 14.1-inch screen closed--and offers IBM's great keyboard with both eraserhead and touchpad pointing devices, each with their own smoothly working mouse buttons. The ThinkLight, an LED in the lid that a keystroke combination activates to shine a light on the keyboard, is a useful feature that helps when working in dim light.

A slim combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW optical drive came with our test model, but you can opt for a DVD burner ($349 extra) instead or buy a second hard drive to swap into the Ultrabay Slim modular bay. The modular bay also takes a secondary battery, but with the high-capacity, 9-cell battery that comes standard with the configuration we looked at, you won't need it. This super-duper battery, which extends the footprint by about an inch in the back, gave us a little over 5.5 hours of valuable working time in our tests. On the performance side, the T42 was a little less impressive but still within reasonable boundaries for its processor. Our 1.8-GHz Pentium M 745-equipped unit earned a WorldBench 5 score of 77, compared with a score of 80 earned by a Dell Inspiron 700m with the same processor.

The T series continues to suffer from a few relatively minor limitations. The connections are fairly modest--the T42 we reviewed lacked a FireWire port or any type of memory card reader beyond PC Card slots, and has just two USB 2.0 ports. However, IBM offers docking options galore, ranging from a simple port replicator to a full-fledged docking station. The T42 stays true to IBM form with forgettable stereo sound.

The T42 should be relatively easy to upgrade. Only one memory slot is user accessible, in a bottom compartment, but you can pull the slim hard drive out of the right side of the case with your fingers. Just open the laptop's screen and remove one security screw on the bottom of the case. The ThinkPad's animated user manual is unsurpassed, with loads of helpful information and a troubleshooting guide.

Upshot: The T42's integrated fingerprint reader takes some patience to use but should reward with increased security. This notebook remains a top pick for business travelers.

Source: PCWorld.com, Dec 24, 2004

Sharp Actius PC-AL27 Notebook

2008-11-05T10:27:00.001+07:00

Elvis's jumpsuit. The White Album. Arctic hares. They all come to mind when looking at the Sharp Actius AL27, a laptop that sports an exterior in a blinding glossy-white rarely seen in nature--or in an office. Feature-wise, the AL27 is fairly run of the mill. A fixed multiformat DVD burner with a prominent eject button sits just around the right corner, and four USB ports are conveniently distributed on the left side of the case and on the rear. A VGA port for connecting a standard monitor sits beneath a plastic door on the left, but the notebook has no TV-out connection. The front sports four connections--an unusual convenience for a laptop--including not only microphone and headphone jacks but also a FireWire port. The fourth front port is a mini-USB jack, the AL27's most unusual feature. Using a bundled USB adapter cable to connect to another PC lets the AL27 serve as a 60GB plug-and-play USB hard drive that automatically appears in the host system's Windows Explorer window. Unlike the Sharp Actius MC22, however, which we reviewed last year, the AL27 does not come with any syncing software, so you're on your own in keeping track of the files moved between systems. And at 6.5 pounds, the AL27 is a heavy way to add extra storage.

Upgrading the AL27 is relatively easy. Both the hard drive and one of the memory slots (the other is not user accessible) are located in the same large bottom compartment covered by a panel that's held in by four small screws. Removing the battery, on the other hand, is a pain, owing to two separate bottom releases, both of which have to be held open while you tug the battery out. The AL27's white keyboard is nicely laid out and easy to read, thanks to dark lettering. However, the slight ergonomic curve takes a little getting used to, and we missed having quick-launch buttons and a page-scrolling button, two common keyboard extras the AL27 lacks. The built-in sound is fairly loud but of mediocre quality.

We were least impressed with the AL27's performance. The unit, which has a 1.6-GHz Low-Power Mobile Athlon 64 2700+ processor, lasted just 1.8 hours in our battery tests, a far shorter time than our 3-hour average. On the performance bench, it pulled down a WorldBench 5 score of 68, about 9 percent behind two 1.6-GHz Pentium M laptops we tested. (We've tested no other laptops containing the 1.6-GHz Low-Power Mobile Athlon 64 2700+ processor to compare it to.)

Upshot: Its striking white case and ability to act as a USB hard drive to other PCs gives the Actius AL27 some unique talking points. However, its sluggish performance and battery life make it a poor on-the-road machine.

Sharp Actius AL27

WorldBench 5 score of 68, 1.6-GHz Low-Power Mobile Athlon 64 2700+ processor, 512MB of DDR333 SDRAM, Windows XP Professional, 15-inch screen, 60GB hard drive, DVD±RW drive, VIA PM800 graphics using main memory, built-in V.92 modem and 10/100 ethernet, 802.11g wireless, touchpad pointing device, 7.7-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty, 24-hour daily toll-free support.

Source: PCWorld.com

Yahoo-Google deal may flounder, analyst says

2008-11-05T10:03:00.000+07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The new search advertising deal between Yahoo Inc and Google Inc is unlikely to win U.S. antitrust approval, and therefore may open the door to a new bid for Yahoo from Microsoft Corp, an analyst said on Tuesday.

Under the revised deal the two companies have proposed to the Justice Department, Yahoo and Google significantly scaled back the scope of their agreement, including shortening the length of the partnership to two years from 10, a source told Reuters on Monday.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay called the revised offer a "desperate gambit." He said in a note that he expected the Justice Department to defer a decision until next year, and expects the agreement to eventually fall apart.

Should that happen, Microsoft might renew its effort for Yahoo with an offer of around $20 a share, Lindsay said. Microsoft had offered as much as $33 per share for Yahoo earlier this year.

"We expect the DoJ to defer a decision to next year and believe they are preparing for an antitrust showdown with Google," Lindsay wrote. "We expect the Google-Yahoo deal to founder, leaving Yahoo unable to acquire AOL's portal and stuck in a stand-alone value trap."

Yahoo has been in talks with Time Warner Inc about the advertising and content assets of AOL.

Shares of Yahoo rose 4.71 percent to close at $13.35, while Google shares climbed 5.9 percent to $366.94. Microsoft added 4.02 percent at $23.53 on Nasdaq.

Lenovo Unveils Hardware Duo: Desktop and Netbook

2008-10-31T13:25:00.000+07:00

Lenovo hit two different markets with dueling announcements this week.

The PC maker announced a new ThinkCentre desktop with added remote manageability, as well as a low-cost netbook for the education market. The desktop is expected to start shipping in December and the netbook is slated to hit toward the end of November. The company yesterday also unveiled the ThinkServer line of servers.

"Lenovo is trying to hold on to that business market," said Jim McGregor , an analyst with In-Stat . "With the desktops, they're going toward a manageability platform for business. It can be upgraded remotely. They can be monitored remotely. IT can even recognize hard drive problems or a virus attack before the user does."

The new ThinkCentre desktop -- the M58/M58p -- uses Power Manager, which is designed to lower energy costs by enabling system administrators to remotely monitor and adjust the amount of electricity used by the PCs. For example, Lenovo noted that the PCs can be programmed to shut down evenings or weekends.

The ThinkCentre M58/M58p also supports Hardware Password Manager, which enables administrators to remotely check on various system passwords and deal with issues that arise with them.

Lenovo is also following the recent trend of PC makers churning out mini-laptops with the unveiling of its IdeaPad S10e netbook. The company noted that the ultra-portable is designed for students in K-12, as well as those in college. Weighing in at less than 3 pounds, the netbook runs Microsoft Windows XP Home or SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop from Novell.

"I think it's good for any company to get into the mobile area," said McGregor. "The market is moving faster than anyone predicted? And, yes, I think it's important for them to get into [netbooks]. Everyone is targeting Internet accessibility."

Netbooks are relatively inexpensive, small-form-factor notebooks designed for basic applications, such as Web surfing, e-mailing and music downloads. They're designed to use less power than traditional laptops and aren't robust enough for serious power users or gamers.

On Tuesday, Dell Inc. also unveiled a new netbook - the Inspiron Mini 12. And Acer, which is considered to be out front in the netbook market, came out with the Aspire One mini-laptop in June.

Earlier this month, Gartner Inc. reported that mini-laptops have been keeping the PC market from sinking badly in the tough economy. A strong push from a new slew of mini-notebooks is bolstering what otherwise would be a soft PC market.

Source: PcWorld.com

Asus Announces Ten-Inch Eee PC 1002HA

2008-10-31T13:20:00.000+07:00

Asus this week announced yet another Asus Eee PC laptop - the Asus Eee PC 1002HA.

The Asus Eee PC 1002HA netbook shares a similar chassis and styling to the Asus Eee PC S101, with a 10in screen. Like many of is Eee PC brethren, the Asus Eee PC 1002HA is a very small laptop with a large touchpad.

In terms of connectivity the Asus Eee PC 1002HA has three USB 2.0 ports, as well as headphone and microphone sockets. It also features an SDHC card reader, VGA out and RJ45 ports, a Kensington lock for physical security, and twin front-facing speakers.

Asus Eee PC 1002HA: small form, small battery

The Asus Eee PC 1002HA is powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU, boasts 1GB of RAM and has a 160GB hard drive. However, this feature set and lightweight netbook form factor come at a price: battery life. The Asus Eee PC 1002HA measures 264x181x276mm and weighs 1.2kg, but has only a two-cell 4200mAh battery.

The Asus Eee PC 1002HA will cost around £359 (US$576).

Source: PcWorld.com

Toshiba's First Netbook Hits Japan, Overseas Sales to Follow

2008-10-31T13:08:00.000+07:00

The first netbook-type portable computer from Toshiba hit store shelves in Japan over the weekend, ahead of its upcoming launch in Europe. U.S. sales are currently not planned for the machine.

Like many other netbooks the NB100 is based on a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and has an 8.9-inch display with 1,024 pixel by 600 pixel resolution (WSVGA). The machine measures 22.5 centimeters by 19.1cm by 3.3cm. It weighs just over 1 kilogram and battery life is 2.9 hours, according to Toshiba.

In Japan a single version is available, running Windows XP Home and with a 120G-byte hard-disk drive, wireless LAN and Bluetooth.

Store prices for the machine range from ¥63,800 to ¥69,800 (US$677 to $740), according to price comparison site Kakaku.com. At one Tokyo electronics store on Monday the machine was being offered for as low as ¥24,800 if customers signed up for cellular data service.

European models will be offered with up to 160G-byte hard-disk drives on Windows XP models. Versions based on Ubuntu Linux are also planned, although they'll have half the memory of the Windows versions and a maximum hard disk size of 120G-bytes. They also won't support Bluetooth.

Pricing for these overseas models and launch dates are yet to be announced by Toshiba. However, European online electronics stores are already listing variations of the computer at prices between €366 and €403 (US$461 and $508).

Source: PcWorld.com

Dibalik Senyum Petugas Pom Bensin

2008-10-31T09:14:00.005+07:00

Ketika mengisi bensin, saya sering kali ngobrol dengan petugas pom bensinnya. Kebiasaan saya memang suka mengobrol dengan siapa saja. Sering kalinya saya hanya ingin menambah wawasan saja dari hal-hal yang mungki tidak terpikirkan oleh saya sebelumnya. Hal yang beberapa bulan ini saya tanyakan ke mereka di berbagai tempat pom bensin adalah apakah mereka tidak pusing mencium bau bensin setiap hari dan kenapa mereka tidak memakai masker penutup hidung agar mengurangi uap bensin yang terhirup.

Hal tersebut saya tanyakan, karena saya saja yang berdiri sebentar sambil ngobrol, sudah langsung pusing karena menghirup bau bensin tersebut.

Mereka, kurang lebih sepuluh orang, yang saya tanyakan semuanya menjawab bahwa sebenarnya mereka juga pusing. Mereka merasakan dada yang sesak. Dan makin parah lagi kalau pas mereka sedang sakit, katakan saja flu, perasaan sakit di dada semakin menjadi.

Ketika saya tanyakan kenapa mereka tidak memakai masker, jawaban mereka semuanya sama yaitu karena kebijakan perusahaan. Perusahaan melarang mereka memakai masker karena demi pelayanan ke pelanggan. Mereka diwajibkan untuk tetap tersenyum ketika melayani pelanggan. Mereka bilang, kalau mereka pakai masker, mereka tidak bisa lagi menunjukkan senyum mereka ke nasabah dan itu akan dianggap tidak sopan karena tidak menghargai pelanggan.

Hazrah kazrah!

Saya terkaget mendengar jawaban mereka. Jawaban mereka semuanya seragam.
Jawaban mereka pun semakin diperkuat dengan iklan Pertamina di televisi yang mengutamakan senyum petugasnya ketika melayani pelanggan.

Ironisnya, dibalik senyum yang mereka berikan, ada derita yang harus mereka tanggung dengan mencium uap bensin setiap hari yang dapat memberikan gangguan yang serius kepada kesehatan mereka, khususnya paru-paru dan otak mereka.

Saya sebagai pelanggan lebih senang melihat mereka memakai masker penutup hidung, ketimbang mereka melayani dengan senyum tapi saya tahu dibalik senyumnya, mereka menanggung derita yang tidak ringan.

Melalui tulisan ini, saya mengajak kita yang peduli terhadap nasib para pekerja pom bensin untuk menyerukan kepedulian kesehatan petugas pom bensin agar pertamina dan pemilik pom bensin melengkapi petugas pom bensin dengan masker penutup hidung.

Saya sebagai pelanggan pom bensin lebih peduli kesehatan petugas pom bensin ketimbang senyuman mereka ketika mereka mengisikan bensin ke kendaraan saya. Saya sudah mulai merasa tidak nyaman karena tahu dibalik senyuman petugas pom bensin ada derita yang harus mereka tanggung akibat menghirup uap bensin.

Semoga melalui tulisan ini, nasib kesehatan petugas pom bensin bisa diperbaiki dimulai dengan memakai masker penutup hidung.

Sumber: apakabar.ws

Microsoft Introduces Windows 7, Ending Vista Brand

2008-10-29T14:03:00.001+07:00

LOS ANGELES — Microsoft introduced what it said would be a slimmer and more responsive version of its Windows operating system on Tuesday, while unceremoniously dropping the brand name Vista for the new product.

The new version will instead be branded Windows 7, because it is the seventh of a long line of operating systems for PCs developed by the company since the 1980s. The company did not say when it would sell Windows 7 to the public.

The company also said that it was planning to introduce a Web-based version of its Office programs, which is aimed at heading off a new wave of competitors like Google Docs and Zoho, which have deployed word processors, spreadsheets and presentation programs that run on a Web browser. The company was vague, however, about how it would price the programs and acknowledged that it would face skeptical Wall Street analysts who think the strategy would cannibalize the company’s profitable Office franchise.

After almost two years, Windows Vista is still getting a lackluster reception from consumers and facing a relentless marketing barrage from Apple.

The problem was highlighted last week when Microsoft reported its financial results for the most recent quarter. Its Windows unit reported just a 2 percent rise in revenue against a 4 percent decline in operating income. The computer industry viewed the setback as a shift of historic proportions. The company acknowledged last week that the mix of Windows sales in both mature and emerging markets had tipped more toward low-cost PCs, which come with lower-margin versions of Windows and often not Vista. Sales of Office software rose 23 percent, bringing in more revenue than the operating system.

On Tuesday morning, the company demonstrated Windows 7 before a group of more than 6,000 programmers attending the company’s Professional Developers’ Conference being held here through Thursday.

“We’ve done a lot of work around how you manage the windows, how you launch programs and how you manage the windows of the programs that you’ve launched,” said Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft technologist who has led the development of the new version of Windows. “It’s all about personalization and putting you in control of the PC, and that’s a big initiative that we’ve had.”

Mr. Sinofsky took the stage and issued an apology of sorts for the problems and frustrations associated with Windows Vista. He said the company had listened to and was responding to the feedback.

“We got feedback from reviews, from the press, a few bloggers here and there, oh, and some commercials,” he said, with a nod to a lengthy Apple advertising campaign that has mercilessly poked fun at Microsoft’s woes.

He also said that he had not taken particular offense at Apple’s ad campaign teasing the giant software developer. However, the laptop did have an “I’m a PC” sticker on its cover, a reference to a recent series of ads Microsoft ran that were widely viewed as a somewhat belated response to Apple. “As an engineering team we have to do what engineers do, when you build a product, when you build a service, you step back and say what have we learned from this, what can we do better, what went well, how do we build on our experience,” he added.

He then demonstrated a “pre-beta” version of Windows, acknowledging that some features were still missing. The presentation focused generally on the more polished control features of Windows 7 including how on-screen notifications are handled, an issue that was an irritant for early Vista users who complained about the nannylike behavior of the software.

Other new features in this very early version included an enhanced and more flexible task-bar, more powerful search features, and an easier-to-use home network and file sharing. There was also a hint that Microsoft plans to revise Windows 7 to take advantage of the coming wave of multicore microprocessors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. Mr. Sinofsky said the company would give more details on the ability of the new program to handle up to 256 processors.

Mr. Sinofsky, who previously led the development of the company’s Office application, showed Windows 7 running on a low-priced Lenovo notebook computer equipped with just one gigabyte of memory and a relatively low-power Intel Atom microprocessor. This suggests that the new version of the program will require far fewer resources than its predecessor, although Mr. Sinofsky declined to make specific performance promises.

Microsoft also said that it planned to offer versions of a number of its Office applications via a Web browser instead of as an application on a PC, via the Microsoft Office Live Web service, and to businesses through a hosted subscription.

HP gets serious about Netbooks

2008-10-29T13:26:00.001+07:00

After a brief experiment in the education market, Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday is set to introduce a whole line of Netbooks for mainstream consumers.

The HP Mini 1000 comes in three versions, with starting prices ranging from $379 to $699, and will be available at retailers worldwide starting Wednesday.

HP first dipped its toe into the mini-notebook market back in April with the Mini-Note 2133, which it claimed was strictly for K through 12 students and some business travelers. At the time, HP was adamant that this was not meant to play in the same arena as the consumer-oriented Netbook from Asus, the Eee PC. Though it won't break out the numbers, HP now says the sales of the 2133 "exceeded all expectations."

But the new HP Mini 1000, Mini 1000 MIE, and the Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition are very much intended for consumers. So what's changed in just six months? The look and feel of the Mini 1000 line isn't drastically different from the 2133, but the Netbook market has had a dramatic makeover, though it's more noticeable abroad than here in the U.S.

First let's look at what's different between the Mini-Note 2133 and the updated version: The Mini 1000 is actually a "Netbook" in the true sense this time around--as in, it contains Intel's Atom processor, rather than the C7 from Via.

Second, there are more options depending on the features a person needs, and a cheaper low-end device, now starting below $400. The Mini 1000, intended for productivity applications, starts at $399 and is available starting Wednesday. It comes with Windows XP and either an 8.9-inch or 10.2-inch screen, for $449. The MIE, meant for more casual, online activities, starts at $379, comes with Linux, but won't be available in the U.S. until January. The Vivienne Tam version--which HP previewed at New York Fashion Week last month--will go on sale in mid-December starting at $699. All will be initially for sale on HP.com.

Otherwise, compared to the earlier 2133, the basic computer they're shipping is essentially the same. A little thinner, a little lighter--due to the plastic case rather than the aluminum of the 2133--but with the same 92 percent keyboard, built-in Webcam, wireless, and options for solid-state or hard-disk drives.

However, the Mini 1000 exudes a ton more personality than the 2133. There's better design inside and out, with black ripple patterned casing or the loud red Vivienne Tam-printed version. Although on the inside is where HP's done the most work, namely to disguise the fact that with the MIE model, you're using a Linux-based device.

The HP MediaStyle interface is available on the Mini1000 MIE version, which comes with Linux rather than Windows XP like the other two models. MediaStyle sits on top of Linux and is a dashboard that takes users to music, IM, photos, videos, and the Web with one touchpad click, which HP says will shield users from ever having to interact with the open-source OS.

"It's important we made sure that Linux does not manifest itself to the user," said Carlos Montalvo, vice president of marketing for the Personal Systems Group at HP.

Different colors, screen sizes, and slightly lower price tags have been the only way PC makers have come up with that set these tiny notebooks apart thus far. By creating a unique interface option on the MIE, HP has officially made the first real move to differentiate these Netbook devices. (It's similar to the way the company's TouchSmart interface sits on top of its TouchSmart desktop's Vista OS.)

The MediaStyle interface makes the Mini1000 stand out better than any bold pattern from a hot designer ever could, and should definitely grab some attention during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

This all looks great on paper, of course. Why shouldn't the biggest PC maker in the world be able to sell a lot of these trendy tiny notebooks when lower-priced options in a down economy could be particularly attractive to cost-conscious consumers?

But in the U.S., it's still unclear whether there's a viable market for Netbooks. People are buying them, but may be doing so in place of traditional notebooks. For PC vendors, that's like taking one step forward and two steps back.

Luckily there's more to the PC industry than North America, and right now, the key for Netbook pushers is Europe.

In March 2008, when HP introduced the Mini-Note 2133, IDC estimated that the year would finish up with 3.6 million Netbooks shipped worldwide. As of October, IDC is now estimating that 10.9 million Netbooks will ship.

It's a dramatic increase, and the difference is all coming out of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), where Asus and Acer have been incredibly aggressive about their Netbooks, the Eee PC and Aspire One, respectively. Of the 10.9 million units that are estimated to ship worldwide by the end of 2008, 8.1 million will go to EMEA, says IDC.

Acer and Asus have done well in the region, as evidenced by Acer's quick rise to the top of the portable PC market there. But they've been aided by local telecom companies, who are subsidizing Netbooks in exchange for a signed wireless service contract. It's a model that in the past few months has thrived in Europe.

Dell signed up Vodafone for this kind of deal on its Netbook, the Inspiron Mini 9 in September, but HP's mostly been on the sidelines in this regard, and representatives for the company haven't indicated if a similar deal with wireless providers are in the works.

Either way, in the end, HP is among the best positioned in the Netbook market: It's the biggest PC maker out there, and has the resources and industry clout to actually do something relatively different in the Netbook space, as demonstrated by the MediaStyle interface. But whether success comes at the cost of selling traditional notebooks still remains to be seen.

Microsoft brings Office to the Web browser

2008-10-29T12:27:00.001+07:00

The next version of Office for Windows will contain lightweight versions of its apps that will be delivered through Web browsers. Even though the release is for Windows, Microsoft representatives confirmed for Macworld that the Office Web apps would work with Safari and Firefox.

The company explained the move to the Web at its Professional Developers Conference. Microsoft said it plans to deliver all of its technology as “software plus services,” with Office being one those technologies.

The Office Web applications will be lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Using the apps, you can use a browser to create, edit, and collaborate on Office documents.

“We raised the stakes with Office Web applications. With this development, people can benefit from Office as a service on their browser, as a downloadable application on their phone, and as software on their PCs,” said Chris Capossela, senior vice president, Microsoft Business Division. “This is the kind of flexibility that our software plus services approach makes possible, and is helping us deliver the kind of innovation that businesses and consumers expect from Microsoft.”

Microsoft will deliver the apps through Office Live with ad supported and subscription versions. Business customers have the option of using a hosted subscription service.

“We are deeply committed to offering our customers the technology they need to succeed. To that end, we’re investing in software plus services for the long term, something that sets us apart from our competitors,” said Capossela.

Sun tussles with startup over noted systems designer

2008-10-24T10:37:00.001+07:00

Sun Microsystems hasn't had much good news to report lately, so it wasn't surprising that it went into spin mode Thursday after startup company Arista Networks announced that it had snared Andreas Bechtolsheim, Sun's chief scientist and a highly regarded systems designer, to be its chief development officer.

The announcement led to a flurry of reports that Bechtolsheim had resigned from Sun, something the systems and software company strongly denied. It blasted an e-mail to reporters Thursday morning, calling the reports inaccurate and saying that Bechtolsheim will "continue his present involvement" with Sun, albeit on a part-time basis.

That sparked a brief tug-of-war between the companies. Mark Foss, Arista's director of marketing, said in response to Sun's e-mail that "as far as we're concerned" Bechtolsheim is working full time for Arista. "There's a miscommunication between Sun and us," he said. "We're working with Sun at the moment to clarify the situation."

Bechtolsheim has now clarified it. In an interview Thursday he confirmed that he works full time at Arista, where he is also chairman and cofounder, but that he'll continue to advise Sun on a part-time basis. "That's the legal status," he said, adding that he'll work for Sun "no more than one day a week."

"Sun has a very busy product schedule ahead of itself," Bechtolsheim said. "The products for the next year, if not the next two years, are all laid out. There are sometimes questions that come up that they'd like to call me back on or ask me about, and I'm happy to help them out on that basis."

"This may change in the future," he added, "but for now I'm still going to help Sun out on a part-time basis."

Bechtolsheim said he was moving to the networking startup because there's little room left for innovation with industry-standard servers, which is what he worked on at Sun.

"I'm really driven by the opportunity to innovate, and quite frankly the server business is getting more mature," he said. "It's basically difficult to add value to industry-standard servers built around Intel and AMD CPU chips, whereas the networking space has a lot of opportunities remaining in terms of the ability to innovate."

Sun has had enough bad news this week already, which could explain attempts to play down the departure of Bechtolsheim, who is also one of its founders. On Monday Sun warned it would report a big loss for the past quarter on declining revenue, which sent its already-flagging stock price lower. Then on Wednesday Sun's largest shareholder said it would take a more active role in the company to help maximize shareholder value.

The shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, hasn't said yet what it plans to do. Dan Olds, principal analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group, said possibilities include trying to sell off some hardware assets, making changes in senior management, or making Sun a private company, which would relieve pressure to meet quarterly earnings forecasts.

Olds said that, according to Sun employees he spoke with, Bechtolsheim had already been scaling back his day-to-day work at the company. "One person told me repeatedly that he's the best systems designer they'd ever seen in terms of packaging, but that he's been gradually disconnecting over the last several months."

Bechtolsheim invented Sun's first workstation product and has a reputation as a brilliant systems designer. He left Sun for the first time in 1995 to found a Gigabit Ethernet company that was later acquired by Cisco Systems. He returned to Sun four years ago to design its Galaxy line of industry-standard servers. His return was supposed to help make Sun a hardware leader again at a time when its pricey Unix servers were falling from favor.

Networking stayed close to Bechtolsheim's heart, however. He cofounded Arista Networks at about the same time he returned to Sun and held a seat on Arista's board. Along with his appointment as chairman and chief of product development Thursday, Arista also named Jayshree Ullall, a senior vice president with Cisco Systems, as its president and chief executive officer.

Arista, which shipped its first products earlier this year, aims to "solve the problem of interconnecting large data centers with high-speed Ethernet," Bechtolsheim said.

"One unfortunate thing here is that people are focused on me leaving Sun, but the exciting part is actually this cloud networking story we are building here," he said.

Attack code for critical Microsoft bug surfaces

2008-10-24T09:52:00.001+07:00

Just hours after Microsoft posted details of a critical Windows bug, new attack code that exploits the flaw has surfaced.

It took developers of the Immunity security testing tool two hours to write their exploit, after Microsoft released a patch for the issue Thursday morning. Software developed by Immunity is made available only to paying customers, which means that not everyone has access to the new attack, but security experts expect that some version of the code will begin circulating in public very soon.

Microsoft took the unusual step of rushing out an emergency patch for the flaw Thursday, two weeks after noticing a small number of targeted attacks that exploited the bug.

The vulnerability was not publicly known before Thursday; however, by issuing its patch, Microsoft has given hackers and security researchers enough information to develop their own attack code.

The flaw lies in the Windows Server service, used to connect different network resources such as file and print servers over a network. By sending malicious messages to a Windows machine that uses Windows Server, an attacker could take control of the computer, Microsoft said.

Apparently, it doesn't take much effort to write this type of attack code.

"It is very exploitable," said Immunity Security Researcher Bas Alberts. "It's a very controllable stack overflow."

Stack overflow bugs are caused when a programming error allows the attacker to write a command on parts of the computer's memory that would normally be out of limits and then cause that command to be run by the victim's computer.

Microsoft has spent millions of dollars trying to eliminate this type of flaw from its products in recent years. And one of the architects of Microsoft's security testing program had a frank assessment of the situation Thursday, saying that the company's "fuzzing" testing tools should have discovered the issue earlier. "Our fuzz tests did not catch this and they should have," wrote Security Program Manager Michael Howard in a blog posting. "So we are going back to our fuzzing algorithms and libraries to update them accordingly. For what it's worth, we constantly update our fuzz testing heuristics and rules, so this bug is not unique."

While Microsoft has warned that this flaw could be used to build a computer worm, Alberts said that it is unlikely that such a worm, if created, would spread very far. That's because most networks would block this type of attack at the firewall.

"I only see it being a problem on internal networks, but it is a very real and exploitable bug," he said.

Microsoft earnings beat the Street

2008-10-24T09:34:00.000+07:00

Microsoft Thursday said the diversity of its software offerings helped it beat Wall Street estimates and post US$15.06 billion in revenue during its fiscal first quarter of 2009.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected profit of 47 cents per share on $14.8 billion in revenue. Microsoft posted 48 cents per share.

Despite the numbers, Microsoft only posted a modest 1.9% increase in net income as compared to the same quarter a year ago. In the fiscal first quarter of 2008, revenue was $4.2 billion as compared to $4.3 billion in 2009.

Microsoft said its annuity sales, which are built mostly on multi-year software maintenance contracts, grew by more than 20% fueled by growth in the client, business and server and tools divisions.

Microsoft's success came mostly before the economic downturn that has had financial markets in a panic recently.

But the quarter was not without turmoil for Microsoft. During the quarter, Microsoft dropped its bid to acquire Yahoo while pursuing Google in the search and advertising market. Microsoft is investing heavily to make up ground on the search giant but the depth of those efforts from a financial perspective won't be reflected until later in the fiscal year.

Microsoft was active in the quarter adding to its server and tools lineup the much-anticipated Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtualization platform and the SQL Server 2008 database.

But Chris Liddell, chief financial officer for Microsoft, said the company did feel a spending drop off in the last few weeks of the quarter and that the trend continued into October.

Liddell said Microsoft would adjust downward its guidance for the second fiscal quarter of 2009. Microsoft had been predicting an uptick in the economy for the quarter.

Now, Liddell said, "we are assuming a mild recession and a relatively modest growth rate for IT based products."

He said the company's strong cash flow, high unearned revenue and plentiful cash on hand would "allow us to weather any economic recession in relatively better terms than most."

And adding a high note, Liddell said Microsoft still foresees an "increase in demand for our products that will grow revenue from single digits to low double digits this financial year."

He predicted that growth would be judged as an exceptional performance in the current economic environment.

On the balance sheet, IT showed that it was still a driving force for Microsoft. Revenue in the server and tools business was up 17% from $2.9 billion in the fiscal first quarter on 2008 to $3.4 billion in the same quarter this year.

Microsoft's complete balance sheet in available on its Web site.?

Source: The New York Times

India Launches Its First Rocket To The Moon

2008-10-23T10:44:00.000+07:00

In the latest sign of its growing stature as a science and technology powerhouse, India on Wednesday successfully launched its first moon rocket.

Following a 52-hour countdown, the unmanned Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Center on the island of Sriharikota in southern India at 6:22 a.m. local time. The craft pierced through cloudy skies atop the 320-ton Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to begin a scheduled two-and-a-half year moon mission.

The mission marks the Indian Space Research Organization's first attempt to place a spacecraft in lunar orbit. The United States, Russia, China, and Japan are the only other nations to have successfully launched moon rockets.

Upon obtaining orbit 100 kilometers above the moon, Chandrayaan-1 will deploy a range of scientific instruments to observe and study Earth's closest celestial neighbor. On board are X-ray and infrared spectrometers, an atom analyzer, a radiation monitor, radar, and a mineralogy mapping instrument that was developed in the United States by Brown University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Chandrayaan-1 will scan the lunar surface for rare potential energy sources such as helium-3 -- a possible alternative to fossil fuels.

The spacecraft is carrying a total of 11 scientific payloads.

Many of the components used in the mission were developed in India at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Thiruvananthapuram, including the Polar launch vehicle and its Inertial Systems Unit. Chandrayaan-1's terrain mapping camera and hyperspectral imaging instruments were also developed in the country.

Despite the persistence of staggering poverty in many areas of the country, India is emerging as a world leader in science and technology. Many top U.S. tech firms, including IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle, rely heavily on the country's huge base of skilled programmers for software development. IT consulting firm Accenture now maintains more employees in India than in the United States.

India is also establishing itself as a leader in a number of other high-tech industries, including pharmaceutical and life sciences. The Asian Development Bank estimates that India's gross domestic product is on pace for 7.4% growth in 2008.

Genome fanatics to post own DNA sequences on Web

2008-10-21T13:35:00.000+07:00

BOSTON (AP) — A group of scientists and researchers fascinated with the human genome said Monday they will post online their most private personal information — their medical records and DNA sequence of some of their own genes — all for the sake of research.

Led by Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church, nine people plan to post their records and the DNA sequence of about one-fifth of their genes on the Web.

The participants also include Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker and Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer at Harvard Medical School. A tenth participant, Misha Angrist, science editor at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, said he plans to make his medical records public, but is still deciding on whether to make his sequencing information public.

Harvard said this is the first phase of a major initiative to make personal genome sequencing more affordable and accessible.

The release is part of the "Personal Genome Project," which is designed to serve as a resource for researchers investigating the genetic basis of diseases and other traits.

Members of the group received the protein-coding regions of their genomes Monday. After reviewing the information with a doctor, they were given the option of sharing it with the research community and general public by posting it on the project's Web site.

Participants discussed their decisions at a news conference at Harvard on Monday afternoon.

Halamka said his results showed he could be at an increased risk for several diseases, including prostate cancer and a neurological disorder that causes weakness and numbness in the legs. He said knowing he has an increased risk could help him when he has a physical examination.

"I think as a family we will now approach our care a little differently," he said.

Participants said they decided to make their information public to help medical research.

"I believe that there's a great advantage to each of us knowing our sequences, but it is also to me inconceivable that absolute genetic privacy will be maintained," said Stanley Lapidus, chairman and CEO of Helicos BioSciences Corp.

Earlier this year, Church's project won approval from Harvard's ethical review board to sequence and post the genes and records of 100,000 willing participants. Church later asked nine people to participate in the first stage of the project.

On Tuesday, the Personal Genome Project's Web site will post the DNA sequences, cell lines, and medical and non-medical traits of participants who agreed to disclose their information. Anyone with access to the Internet can view the information.

Concerns about genetic privacy prompted Congress to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits insurers or employers from discriminating against people based on their genetic information. The act was signed into law in May.

So far, the project has sequenced about 20 percent of the genome regions of participants, but it will eventually scan all their genes.

Last year, DNA pioneers J. Craig Venter, president of a genetics research institute, and James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA's molecular structure, made their genomes public on scientific Web sites.

Texting taps out a family-friendly result

2008-10-20T11:30:00.001+07:00

A family that texts together, stays together. Or at least it stays in touch better.

Today's families with minor children are much more likely than any other household types to have cellphones and use the Internet, a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reports today.

The phone survey of 2,252 adults, between Dec. 13, 2007, and Jan. 13, 2008, also shows that families use those technologies to stay in touch with each other throughout the day.

"It used to be in the old Dick and Jane days, husbands went off to work, wives went off to a different job or else stayed home … and the kids went off to school," says study co-author Barry Wellman, professor at the University of Toronto. "And not until 5:30, 6 o'clock did they ever connect."

But now husbands e-mail wives. Daughters call moms. Sons e-mail parents.

"There's a new kind of connectedness being built inside of families with these technologies," says Lee Rainey, director of the project.

When Jim Daly, an editor for a Web company who lives in Alameda, Calif., wanted to call his teenage daughter down to dinner, he called her on her cellphone.

He knew she'd answer because "text message and cellphone messages are much more important" to her, says Daly, 48.

Daly is in constant contact with his wife, a freelance editor who works from home, during the day via e-mail and cellphone.

So are millions of other Americans. According to the survey:

• About 89% of married (or partnered) parents with children own multiple cellphones.

• 66% have high-speed broadband Internet connections in their homes (compared with a national average of 52%).

• 70% of couples in which both partners have cellphones contact each other daily just to say hello, 64% contact each other to coordinate schedules, and 42% of parents contact their children daily using a cellphone.

When the Internet arose, some worried that it would pull families apart, Rainie said. But for perhaps the first time, this study indicates fairly definitely that technology is bringing them together by allowing them to have constant contact, Rainie says.

Most families say technology has either helped their communication with other family members or made no difference. Very few say it has made communication worse.

For some kids, that might become a double-edged sword, but Emily Wilson, 15, of New York City loves it. "For me, it's really easy and it's been a big benefit. I can always get in contact with (her parents) no matter what. I'm never out of touch with them."

For instance, when Emily was shopping for sunglasses in Manhattan, she became concerned what her mother, who was in the Hamptons, would think of them. So Emily sent a picture — via BlackBerry — of her modeling the new shades. Within seconds, her mom sent a message back: Approval granted.

Now she says she knows "I can go shopping without my mom and have her approve what I'm buying."

Her mom, a longtime techie, loves it, too. Her husband, Fred, likes to Twitter. Her whole family stays in touch electronically.

"We're a very close-knit family," says Joanne Wilson. "But it takes the connection to a whole other level. There's a constant connection."

BlackBerry Maker Reports Profit Is Up, but Shares Fall

2008-09-26T10:28:00.000+07:00

Research In Motion posted a 72 percent increase in quarterly profit Thursday but warned that income in the current quarter would be lower than analysts had expected because of higher costs related to its newest BlackBerry smartphones.

The results and the forecast, released after the close of market trading, set off a decline of 19 percent in the company’s share price in after-hours trading.

Research in Motion blamed increased expenses related to its latest handsets like the BlackBerry Bold, a high-end model aimed at the company’s mainstay base of corporate users.

The company also revealed a gross-margin forecast that was softer than many had expected.

Peter Misek, a Canaccord Adams analyst, called the results “a surprise, and not a positive one.”

The company also said its enterprise business, mainly corporate customers, was still robust despite economic uncertainty in the United States.

Even so, Research in Motion’s shares sold off immediately after it released its results, dropping to below $79, down 19 percent from their close at $97.53 on the Nasdaq.

Research in Motion said it earned $495.5 million, or 86 cents a share, in its most recent quarter, up from $287.7 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales in the period, which ended Aug. 30 and was the second quarter of the company’s fiscal year, rose to $2.58 billion, from $1.37 billion.

The results were in line with the company’s June forecast and just shy of analysts’ expectations.

The chief executive, James L. Balsillie, told analysts in a conference call that the company’s newest, feature-rich handsets had higher costs associated with them, which in turn affects margins.

“This is particularly the case with Bold and other unannounced 3G product platforms,” he said.

It is also difficult for R.I.M. to pass the higher costs on to consumers and still keep next-generation BlackBerry prices at attractive levels, Mr. Balsillie added.

Research in Motion, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, has recently introduced BlackBerry models aimed at the broader consumer market, including a flip-phone BlackBerry Pearl. It is also preparing a touch-screen version of its smartphone to compete more directly with Apple’s iPhone.

Widely used inhaler could increase risks, study claims

2008-09-24T21:44:00.001+07:00

Using a widely prescribed type of inhaler for a month or more could raise the risk of heart attack and death from cardiovascular disease for people with chronic lung disease, a study has found.

It's the latest research to raise questions about the safety of anticholinergic inhalers such as Spiriva and Atrovent, which help people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, to breathe more easily.

The odds of the inhalers causing problems were about one in 40 for cardiac death and one in 175 for heart attack.

But that needs to be weighed against significant quality-of-life improvements for patients who use these drugs, said Dr. Sonal Singh of Wake Forest University, lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study analyzed the results of 17 previous clinical trials involving more than 14,000 patients with COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. None of the trials was designed to evaluate heart risks from inhalers. But the researchers found that long-term use of either the drug tiotropium, sold under the brand name Spiriva, or ipratropium, sold as Atrovent, raised the risk of cardiac death by 80 percent and of heart attack by 53 percent.

A study from Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital near Maywood, released earlier this month, had found that men who used ipratropium inhalers died more often from heart disease. The federal Food and Drug Administration had issued a notice in March of a possible increased risk of stroke with tiotropium

Drug makers skeptical

But the makers of Spiriva -- Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer Inc., -- said concerns about strokes and heart disease weren't backed up by their own analysis of several long-term clinical trials. "We strongly disagree with the conclusion" of the JAMA study, a written statement from the companies said.

The new study is "concerning" but incomplete, said Dr. Ravi Kalhan, director of the COPD program at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research.

"Understanding the mechanisms behind this would certainly make the findings that much more believable," Kalhan said.

Sumber: suntimes.com

Hunt for Palin hacker shaping up to be simple case

2008-09-23T15:46:00.000+07:00

The hunt for the hacker who broke into Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account is shaping up to be a remarkably simple investigation, by the standards of major cybersecurity whodunits.

U.S. investigators figure the hacker claimed responsibility in a detailed accounting that included his own personal e-mail address and that he tried to cover his trail using a U.S. Internet anonymity service that has been surprisingly cooperative with the FBI in efforts to peel away that anonymity.

Not exactly the plot of a Hollywood thriller.

In what may be a significant break in the case, the FBI searched the residence of the son of a Democratic state lawmaker in Tennessee over the weekend looking for evidence linking the young man to the break-in, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The apartment the FBI searched is in a complex about five blocks from the University of Tennessee campus, in a neighborhood popular with students.

David Kernell, 20, has not returned repeated phone calls or e-mails from the AP since last week. His lawyer said Monday the family is going through a difficult period. Kernell is an economics major at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

"The Kernell family wants to do the right thing, and they want what is best for their son," said attorney Wade V. Davies of Knoxville. "We are confident that the truth will emerge as we go through the process. David is a decent and intelligent young man, and I look forward to assisting him during this difficult period."

Kernell is the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, a Memphis Democrat and chairman of Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee. The father declined last week to discuss the possibility his son might be involved in the case.

"I had nothing to do with it, I had no knowledge or anything," Mike Kernell told the AP last week.

"I was not a party to anything of this nature at all," he added. "I wasn't in on this — and I wouldn't know how to do anything like that."

No one answered the door at Mike Kernell's home in Memphis on Monday, and he did not return repeated phone calls Monday from the AP.

Palin's e-mail account with Yahoo Inc. was compromised last week by a hacker who revealed as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate. The McCain campaign confirmed the break-in and called it a "shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law."

Palin used "gov.sarah" in one of her Yahoo e-mail addresses she sometimes uses to conduct state business. The hacker targeted her separate "gov.palin" account.

During the break-in, the hacker used an Internet address that traced to David Kernell's apartment complex in Knoxville. The FBI obtained logs Saturday establishing the connection from Gabriel Ramuglia of Athens, Ga., who operates an Internet anonymity service used by the hacker.

Ramuglia told the AP the FBI asked him to confirm that the address appeared in his records. Ramuglia said his logs showed the hacker visiting Yahoo's mail service, resetting Palin's password and announcing results of the break-in on a Web site where the hacking was first disclosed.

"I think he just didn't realize the severity of what he was doing until afterwards," Ramuglia said.

After the break-in, a person claiming responsibility published a detailed chronology of the hacking on the same Web site. That person identified his e-mail address as one that has been linked publicly to David Kernell.

Kernell's father, Mike Kernell, has a strait-laced reputation among his colleagues.

"Mike Kernell is your quintessential Boy Scout," said state Rep. John Deberry, another Democrat. "Mike follows the rules. He will almost get on your nerve as far as making sure things are done by the book."

"If Mike had known anything about this, he would have had a fit on his son," Deberry said. "When I saw his reaction when he first heard about it, the absolute fear and shock that was on his face, I realized then he had absolutely nothing to do with it."

Experts said the hacker apparently left an easy trail for investigators.

"He might as well have taken a picture of his house and uploaded it," said Ken Pfeil, an Internet security expert. "He should have just set up a big beacon that said, 'Here's my house,' or confessed. If they can't catch this guy based on all the information posted on the Web then all bets are off."

Google bends to Chrome privacy criticism

2008-09-13T20:38:00.001+07:00

Reacting to criticism that its new Chrome browser was essentially acting as a keylogger, potentially recording users' every keystroke, Google Inc. yesterday said it would render anonymous the data it collects from the browser within 24 hours.

A privacy expert said the change's impact couldn't be gauged without knowing exactly how Google will "anonymize" the data it records as users type in Chrome's "OmniBox," the name given to the browser's combination address bar-search bar.

Google has taken heat over the "Google Suggest" feature used within OmniBox since it launched Chrome last week. The Suggest feature automatically lists related search queries and popular Web destinations based on the text typed into the OmniBox. Suggest works by logging users' keystrokes -- not just in the OmniBox, but since late last month in Google's primary search field -- and offering the most likely sites or searches based on a blend of popularity and the search company's own algorithms.

Suggest transmits those keystrokes to Google's servers, as the feature's FAQ acknowledges. "Just as E.T. needs to phone home in order to get a spaceship to pick him up, Google Suggest needs to talk to Google while you type in order to offer suggestions to you," the FAQ reads.

While all keystrokes typed into Chrome's OmniBox are sent to Google, the vast majority aren't permanently recorded, but instead are discarded as soon as suggestions are returned to the browser. About 2% of the time, however, the keystrokes are recorded, along with associated data such as the IP address of the user who entered those keystrokes.

Previously, Google said it needed that data to monitor and improve Suggest. On Monday, the company announced it would change how long it keeps the data logged from Suggest.

"Given the concerns that have been raised about Google storing this information, and its limited potential use, we decided that we will anonymize it within about 24 hours, basically, as soon as we practically can," said Urs Holzle, Google's senior vice president for operations, in an entry to the company's blog late Monday.

"All data retention is a balance between user privacy and trust on the one hand, and security and innovation on the other," argued Holzle. "In the case of Google Suggest, we decided it's possible to provide a great service while anonymizing data almost immediately."

Google Suggest, which had been in development since 2004, began rolling out to Google's search engine late last month. Before that, it was widely used by Google Toolbar, Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox and Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

The logging, transmitting and recording of keystrokes, however, returned to the forefront when Google released Chrome a week ago. What sparked the criticism over Chrome was the everything-in-one-place nature of the browser's OmniBox, said Alissa Cooper, the chief computer scientist at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Unlike other browsers, which separate the address bar -- where users type URLs -- from the search bar, Chrome combines the two.

"It's the URLs that sparked the criticism, and the change by Google," said Cooper. "Users were faced with Google retaining all of their search logs and all of the URLs they were typing."

Nor was Cooper sure that Google's new promise to anonymize the recorded data within 24 hours is enough. "That's a good step, but that doesn't mean that all those logs are rendered anonymous," she said, pointing out that Google says it anonymizes its server logs, for instance, when it only partially deletes IP addresses and cookies.

"It will really depend on the mechanism Google uses to anonymize those logs," Cooper said. "The impact this has on privacy will only become clear when we know how they render the data anonymous."

Chrome users can disable Google Suggest by right-clicking the OmniBox, then selecting "Edit search engines" and clearing the check box beside "Use a suggestion service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar."

Google-Yahoo Ad Tie Up: Ad Trade Body ANA Opposes Deal; "Limits Choices"

2008-09-08T10:54:00.001+07:00

The Justice Department and several state attorneys general are still examining the partnership between Yahoo and Google ( NSDQ: GOOG). The two companies had voluntarily delayed implementation of this deal for 100 days until regulators clear up the review, though they have said they are not required to wait for the regulatory approval.

WSJ: "Whether the letter will influence federal antitrust regulators remains unclear, but it is considered a blow to Yahoo and Google because of the trade group's high profile. Until now, big marketers have been reluctant to come out against the deal publicly because of Google's growing power in the ad business."

Meanwhile, both Yahoo and Google have reacted late today on this letter. Yahoo: The "prices are determined by advertiser demand-driven auctions, not by collaboration between Yahoo and Google...will help to drive a more robust, higher quality...marketplace for our advertisers". From Google: "While some have raised questions about the agreements' potential impact on ad prices, advertisers care far more about getting a good return on their advertising dollar than they do about buying cheap ads that don't bring in customers, and this agreement will clearly help advertisers reach Yahoo users more efficiently."

Math Scores Show No Gap for Girls, Study Finds

2008-07-25T21:10:00.003+07:00

Three years after the president of Harvard, Lawrence H. Summers, got into trouble for questioning women’s “intrinsic aptitude” for science and engineering — and 16 years after the talking Barbie doll proclaimed that “math class is tough” — a study paid for by the National Science Foundation has found that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests.

Although boys in high school performed better than girls in math 20 years ago, the researchers found, that is no longer the case. The reason, they said, is simple: Girls used to take fewer advanced math courses than boys, but now they are taking just as many.

“Now that enrollment in advanced math courses is equalized, we don’t see gender differences in test performance,” said Marcia C. Linn of the University of California, Berkeley, a co-author of the study. “But people are surprised by these findings, which suggests to me that the stereotypes are still there.”

The findings, reported in the July 25 issue of Science magazine, are based on math scores from seven million students in 10 states, tested in accordance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The researchers looked at the average of the test scores of all students, the performance of the most gifted children and the ability to solve complex math problems. They found, in every category, that girls did as well as boys. (To their dismay, the researchers found that the tests in the 10 states did not include a single question requiring complex problem-solving, forcing them to use a national assessment test for that portion of their research.)

Janet Hyde, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who led the study, said the persistent stereotypes about girls and math had taken a toll.

“The stereotype that boys do better at math is still held widely by teachers and parents,” Dr. Hyde said. “And teachers and parents guide girls, giving them advice about what courses to take, what careers to pursue. I still hear anecdotes about guidance counselors steering girls away from engineering, telling them they won’t be able to do the math.”

Girls are still underrepresented in high school physics classes and, as noted by Dr. Summers, who resigned in 2006, in the highest levels of physics, chemistry and engineering, which require advanced math skills.

The study also analyzed the gender gap on the math section of the SAT. Rather than proving boys’ superior talent for math, the study found, the difference is probably attributable to a skewed pool of test takers. The SAT is taken primarily by seniors bound for college, and since more girls than boys go to college, about 100,000 more girls than boys take the test, including lower-achieving girls who bring down the girls’ average score.

On the ACT, another college entrance test, the study said, the gender gap in math scores disappeared in Colorado and Illinois after the states began requiring all students to take the test.

Sumber: The New York Times

Head of Microsoft’s Online Efforts Departs

2008-07-24T10:26:00.002+07:00

Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of Microsoft’s struggling online business, is leaving the company. Microsoft announced Wednesday evening that Mr. Johnson was departing to become chief executive of Juniper Networks.

Mr. Johnson, 47, is leaving as his boss, Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, is shaking up the senior management ranks in an effort to improve the fortunes of the company’s Internet search and advertising business. Microsoft is a distant third behind Google, the leader, and Yahoo in this field, having been unable to catch up despite heavy spending.

The change also comes after Microsoft’s failed bid for Yahoo. Mr. Johnson played a central role in negotiations with Yahoo.

Under the new plan, responsibility for the two businesses overseen by Mr. Johnson — online services and the Windows operating system unit — will be separated.

Microsoft, in a statement, acknowledged that it needed new leadership to lift the performance of the online services business. The company said it would “create a new senior lead position and will conduct a search that will span internal and external candidates.”

In Microsoft’s most recent quarter, which ended June 30, revenue from online services increased 24 percent from the year-earlier quarter, to $838 million. But the business’s loss for the quarter more than doubled to $488 million.

Microsoft’s lackluster performance in online services, analysts note, began well before Mr. Johnson took over in September 2005, with the title of president of the platforms and services division.

“But he didn’t turn it around either,” said Charles di Bona, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “There are a lot of questions to be answered about Microsoft’s online services business, particularly because the company has spent so much there without much to show for it.”

After joining Microsoft in 1992 from I.B.M., Mr. Johnson rose steadily, serving mainly in sales and marketing positions. He was a member of the 10-person senior leadership team at the company.

A colleague who declined to be named said Mr. Johnson wanted to become a chief executive someday — an unlikely prospect at Microsoft, given that Mr. Ballmer is 52.

Mr. Johnson championed Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo in February as the best way to gain ground quickly in online services. The offer had the support of the activist investor Carl C. Icahn, a Yahoo shareholder who threatened a proxy fight to get control of Yahoo.

But the two sides, after a series of talks, failed to reach agreement, though Microsoft has said it remains interested in Yahoo’s search business, if not the entire company. Mr. Icahn is likely to continue agitating for a deal.

Sumber: The New York Times

Apple's Forecast Sets Off a Stock Slide

2008-07-22T13:02:00.003+07:00

News that Apple expects thinner profit margins sent shares of the consumer electronics maker plummeting in extended trading on July 21.

The prospect of diminished profitability through the rest of fiscal 2008 and into the following year overshadowed what was otherwise a blowout quarter. Having forecast earnings of $1 a share on sales of about $7.2 billion, Apple (AAPL) delivered earnings of $1.19 a share and revenue of $7.46 billion.

But investors fixated on the margin forecast. CFO Peter Oppenheimer said gross margins, a key gauge of profitability, will drop below 32% in the current quarter, which ends in September, from 34.8% in the second quarter, which ended on June 30. Gross margins will probably average 30% in fiscal 2009, Oppenheimer told analysts and investors during a conference call discussing the results.

The prospect of thinner margins is particularly jarring at a time when Apple is selling more Macs than ever. The company sold 2.5 million units of its flagship computer this quarter, a record. Oppenheimer was circumspect in his explanation for the margin forecast. He chalked it up to a "a future product transition that I can't talk about today."

New Chips, Bigger Screen?
Apple is typically tight-lipped about coming products until they're ready to be discussed in detail. But analysts inferred that Oppenheimer means cheaper products are on the way. The most likely candidate: Mac notebooks. Rumors of a major revamp of the notebook line, which accounted for 30% of sales in the quarter, have been rife for months. And sales of notebooks are typically strong during the company's fourth quarter, which covers the back-to-school shopping season.

TBR analyst Ezra Gottheil, in a research note issued after the conference call, speculated that the most likely candidate for a product change is an Apple notebook sporting the latest Intel (INTC) chips. "We believe Apple will refresh its notebooks with the latest Intel Centrino 2 processors, which will improve performance and increase battery life," Gottheil wrote in the note. Apple may also introduce a larger-screen MacBook, he said.

Why cut prices on the Mac? According to Charles Wolf, an analyst at Needham in New York, the most likely reason is that Apple wants to press its already impressive market-share gains in the PC market. Research firm Gartner (IT) pegs Apple's share of the U.S. PC market in the second quarter at 8.5%, behind Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL) but ahead of Acer and Toshiba (6502.T). "Apple rarely cuts prices," Wolf says. "What it usually does is enhance products within a price band. This suggests to me that they're going to drop prices on the MacBook or the iMac and that it will carry a lower gross margin."

A Juicier Apple TV
Add the potential price cut on MacBooks, with an already announced back-to-school promotion that involves giving a free iPod to customers who buy a Mac, and you have a recipe for falling margins.

Apple may also be plotting a revamp of its Apple TV, a device that lets users play video downloaded from the Web, says Gartner analyst Mike McGuire. A major upgrade to Apple TV—say, the inclusion of a much larger hard drive or the ability to record TV shows the way a TiVo (TIVO) does—might eat into margins. So might a substantial expansion of Apple's iTunes Store and online rental capacity, which would force Apple to buy more servers and more Internet-serving capacity. Recent moves involving online movie-rental service Netflix (NFLX) and its partnership on a set-top box with electronics concern Roku, McGuire says, might be spurring Apple into action on this front.

Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research in San Francisco, suggested that prices of materials Apple uses in its products—aluminum and plastics—may be on the rise. Oppenheimer and COO Tim Cook said pricing on components like flash memory and LCD screens are "favorable," while prices on DRAM computer memory are likely to increase in line with higher seasonal demand in the second half of the year. "Everyone knows Apple is typically very conservative in its guidance, but given the way the markets are now, people are taking it at face value and assuming the worst," Wu says. "Right now there are just so many unknowns."

The Steve Question
Another unknown for some observers centers on the health of CEO Steve Jobs, who in 2004 was successfully treated for pancreatic cancer. During the conference call an analyst asked whether Jobs had taken ill again. Oppenheimer was dismissive. "Steve loves Apple and serves at the pleasure of Apple's directors," he said. But "Steve's health is a private matter."

Piper Jaffray (PJC) analyst Gene Munster found the response "un-comforting," but reckons the company would say more if there was reason for doubt. "If there was anything he knew about [Jobs'] engagement being in question, I think they would have said something," Munster says.

But analysts were mainly focused on margins—and felt a chill from Apple's remarks. Word of slimmer expected profits hammered the stock in extended trading. It fell $18, or 11%, to 148.11, after having closed up $1.14, to 166.29, during the regular session.

Sumber: Business Week

Facebook Charges German Site is an Illegal Knock-Off

2008-07-21T20:12:00.002+07:00

Facebook filed court papers on Friday against German social network StudiVZ for copyright infringement. Facebook claims that the German company has copied its "look, feel, features and services." But StudiVZ isn't buying it, according to reports the social network has asked a German court to declare Facebook's suit without merit; however, the company says it has not received any court documents from Facebook yet.

Marcus Riecke, chief executive officer of StudiVZ, has blasted back at Facebook accusing it of attempting to build an international monopoly. Riecke points out the suit comes after Facebook unsuccessfully entered the German market earlier this year.

Of course, one look at the screenshot above, and it is clear that there is a striking similarity between the two sites (unless you count color templates as a major overhaul). Although, Facebook is apparently no stranger to finding inspiration from outside sources.

Earlier this year, Facebook settled a copyright infringement lodged by ConnectU, a social network that used to employ Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and accused him of stealing its ideas. And reports suggest that Facebook's latest redesign, which is due to launch today, incorporates ideas from social networking aggregator FriendFeed.

StudiVZ, which is an abbreviation for student's directory, currently has about 10 million members in Germany, Switzerland, Austria.

Sumber: PC World

Microsoft 4Q profit rises; Web ad business rocky

2008-07-18T15:38:00.003+07:00

SEATTLE (AP) — With a Yahoo Inc. search deal uncertain at best, Microsoft Corp. plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars more than expected in the next year to whip its unprofitable online operations into shape.

Analysts, however, wondered how long Wall Street can wait to see those bets pay off.

Microsoft said Thursday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 42 percent — or 13 percent, factoring in a hefty charge a year ago — as revenue topped $15 billion.

But due to weakness in the online business, which makes most of its money from Web advertising, the software maker missed Wall Street's earnings forecast by a penny and issued softer-than-expected guidance for the current first quarter.

Shares sank $1.65, or 6 percent, to $25.87 in after-hours trading, after rising 26 cents to close at $27.52.

For the three months ended June 30, Microsoft's profit jumped 42 percent to $4.3 billion, or 46 cents per share. In the year-ago quarter, earnings totaled $3 billion, hurt by more than $1 billion in charges related to defective Xbox game consoles.

Revenue increased 18 percent to $15.8 billion from $13.4 billion last year, just ahead of Wall Street's average forecast of $15.7 billion, according to a Thomson Financial survey. The revenue rise would have been 14 percent if not for weakness in the dollar.

"Those are very good numbers for a company of our size, in what many companies are finding challenging conditions," Microsoft's chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, said in an interview.
Sid Parakh, an analyst for McAdams Wright Ragen, wasn't buying it.

"The bottom line was disappointing," he said in an interview. "Across the board, they are investing more in growth, which is hurting the bottom line. That's been a concern about Microsoft that investors have felt for a long time."

Earnings for the thee segments responsible for Microsoft's major franchises — the Windows operating system, Office programs and server software — rose 18 percent to total $7.9 billion.
Strong PC sales helped bolster Office and Windows results. Liddell said Microsoft sold more than 40 million Vista licenses in the quarter, surpassing 180 million since January 2007.

The unit responsible for Xbox 360 lost money in the quarter but ended the year in the black, a milestone analysts have tracked for two years.

Microsoft's online business, which has come under renewed scrutiny from Wall Street since the software maker walked away from its bid to buy Yahoo in May, lost $488 million in the quarter, more than double its year-ago loss.

Liddell told analysts the company would invest hundreds of millions of dollars more than expected in the online business next year. He also forecast revenue growth for the unit would slow to between 7 percent and 11 percent in the quarter, and 18 to 20 percent for the full year, citing the tough economy.

"This is the area where we're seeing direct impact from the economic slowdown," Liddell said.
Again, Parakh was skeptical.

"We all know it's much more than the economy," Parakh said. Advertisers are waiting to see whether Microsoft and Yahoo will come together before spending their budgets with Microsoft, he said, and employees are distracted, too.

Walter Pritchard, an analyst for Cowen and Co., said Microsoft was stretching the definition of long-term investing by offering so few returns after so many years of spending.

"You could go back three years ago and say, these guys are still in the same situation. (They have a) quasi-strategy in online that isn't really clearly defined. They keep throwing money at it, and they're not getting any results," he said. "At the pace they're investing, they should be able to grow faster."

For the full fiscal year, Microsoft's earnings rose 26 percent to $17.7 billion, or $1.87 per share, from $14.1 billion, or $1.42 per share in fiscal 2007.

Sales for the year surged 18 percent to $60.4 billion.

For the current quarter, Microsoft said it expects to earn 47 to 48 cents per share on $14.7 billion to $14.9 billion in sales, shy of analysts' view for a profit of 49 cents per share on $15.1 billion in revenue.

For the full year, Microsoft forecast a profit of $2.12 to $2.18 per share on $67.3 billion to $68.1 billion in revenue.

Sumber: Associated Press

Apple to Mac clone maker: Recall your hardware

2008-07-17T09:08:00.002+07:00

July 16, 2008 (Computerworld) Apple Inc. has asked a federal court to require Psystar Corp., the small computer maker marketing Intel-based systems with Mac OS X preinstalled, to recall all the systems it has sold, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month.

In the 16-page lawsuit, Apple charged Doral, Fla.-based Psystar with multiple copyright, trademark, breach-of-contract and unfair competition violations and argued that they all stem from Psystar's practice of preinstalling Mac OS X 10.5, a.k.a. Leopard, on desktop and server systems it sells under the OpenComputer and OpenServ nameplates.

Apple wants all of the profits made by Psystar from selling computers with Leopard, and the company asked that the court put a stop to future sales. Machines already sold, however, should be recalled, Apple said.

"Plaintiff prays for judgment as follows ... awarding Apple a permanent injunction against sales of the Psystar Open Computer and OpenServ server with Apple software and requiring Psystar to recall all such products sold to the public as a result of Psystar's infringement of Apple's copyrights," the complaint filed on July 3 read.

Psystar violated the Mac OS X end-user licensing agreement (EULA) by installing Leopard when it sold systems with a modified version of the operating system, Apple argued. "Apple has never authorized Psystar to install, use or sell the Mac OS software on any non-Apple-labeled hardware," the filing said.

Apple also accused Psystar of providing its users with copies of Mac OS X updates or with modified versions of those updates. In May, when Psystar began offering users Mac software updates, several seemed to be identical to those released in the two months prior to that by Apple.
The Mac OS X EULA forbids others from copying or modifying Apple's software. "Except as and only to the extent permitted by applicable licensing terms governing use of the open-sourced components, or by applicable law, you may not copy, decompile, reverse-engineer, disassemble, modify or create derivative works of the Apple Software or any part thereof," the EULA states (download PDF).

Psystar's sales inflicted "economic injury" on Apple, the lawsuit continued, in part due to damage to the Apple brand. "Apple will suffer and is suffering irreparable harm from Psystar's infringement of the Apple trademarks insofar as Apple's invaluable good will is being eroded by [the] defendant's continuing infringement," the company said.

Apple also accused Psystar of copying and installing a single copy of Mac OS X on more than one computer at time. The lawsuit did not indicate how Apple knew that for a fact, however.
A Psystar spokesman yesterday declined to comment. Apple, meanwhile, has made no public statement about the lawsuit other than to confirm the filing.

The next step in the case is uncertain. Although a case management meeting had originally been scheduled for Oct. 22, the meeting was canceled after Apple's attorneys asked that the case be reassigned from a U.S. magistrate judge to a U.S. District Court judge.

In other news, Psystar's Web site, which was intermittently offline much of Monday, was completely dark Tuesday. A woman who answered the sales line at Psystar's Florida office, however, said it would be back online "shortly" and blamed the outage on a spike in traffic. "It's down because it took too many hits from people trying to reach it," said the woman.

The company's Web site also went under in April after it launched the OpenMac, now OpenComputer, line of Mac clones. Over the next several days, the site was available at times, offline at others. Then, Psystar claimed that a surge in traffic and problems with its credit card processor were responsible. "We're sorry, but the store is temporarily down due to the fact that we are currently unable to process any credit card transactions," a notice on the Web site read at one point that month.

Days later, the credit card processor, PowerPay Inc. in Portland, Maine, said it had terminated Psystar's account because the computer maker misrepresented what it would sell and failed to properly verify credit cards.

Sumber: Computer World

The Dark Knight

2008-07-16T12:44:00.002+07:00

With The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan delivers not only a jaw-dropping superhero epic but also one of the best crime dramas of the millennium. Batman (Christian Bale) and DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) interchangeably play the role of Elliot Ness, noble do-gooders determined to bring an unruly city into line by removing various mobsters from power via a combination of dark-alley head thumpings and the RICO Act. Backing them up are Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Assistant DA Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, replacing Katie Holmes from Batman Begins). However, one of these characters anticipate what will happen when they push organized crime so far; in the absence of adequate leadership, mobsters like Salvatore Maroni (Eric Roberts) turn to a mysterious, violent new player--the Joker (Heath Ledger)--whose anarchic appetite quickly turns the streets of Gotham City into a battlefield where the line between good and evil becomes increasingly blurred for Batman and Dent. Both find themselves questioning how far they can go to stop a force like the Joker, who represents chaos to their order, before they become as bad as him.

As with Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, the Joker is Knight's true star. Unlike Burton's take, though, Nolan views the character as cut from the same cloth as Batman. The two are opposite sides of the same coin, freaks who became what they are more because of chance than anything else. Batman, thus, as the Joker sneers, "completes" him; they are bound forever since Batman will not kill him and the Joker couldn't kill someone who makes life so entertaining. Dent comes to represent these two characters' dichotomy when, courtesy of the Joker's shenanigans, half of his face is horribly burned and he becomes the homicidal Two-Face--a supervillain who decides life and death with the flip of a coin. Their triumvirate represents a philosophical battle for the soul of Gotham City, where notions of heroism are questioned daily and lives depend upon how those on each side of the law interpret themselves.

As much as the story behind Knight works on a character level, the movie also represents a triumph for traditional filmmaking techniques. Imax cameras provide a depth of vision and clarity to cityscapes that CGI can't compare with: when buildings explode, that's really wood, metal, and burning flame racing at the screen. The semitruck that flips back over front on a downtown street is really a semitruck flipping back over front on a downtown street. In a medium where CGI has become synonymous with superheroes, the limited presence of it adds a degree of startling reality to The Dark Knight that makes a person believe a billionaire could dress up as a bat and kick ass on a city's streets.

City Paper

Lawyers in YouTube lawsuit reach privacy deal

2008-07-16T12:35:00.003+07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Defendants and plaintiffs in two related copyright infringement lawsuits against YouTube have reached a deal to protect the privacy of millions of YouTube watchers during evidence discovery, a spokesman for Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday.

Earlier in July, a New York federal judge ordered Google to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc (VIAb.N:

Quote, Profile, Research) and other plaintiffs to help them to prepare a confidential study of what they argue are vast piracy violations on the video-sharing site.

Google said it had now agreed to provide plaintiffs' attorneys for Viacom and a class-action group led by the Football Association of England a version of a massive viewership database that blanks out YouTube username and Internet address data that could be used to identify individual video watchers.

"We have reached agreement with Viacom and the class-action group," Google spokesman Ricardo Reyes said. "They have agreed to let us anonymize YouTube user data," he said.
Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, requested the information as part of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular online video service YouTube and its deep-pocketed parent, Google.

Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google on July 1 to turn over as evidence a database with usernames of YouTube viewers, what videos they watched when, and users' computer addresses.

Privacy activists from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other groups argued in response that the order "threatens to expose deeply private information" and violated the Video Privacy Protection Act, a 1988 law passed after Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental habits were revealed.

Viacom said at the time that it needed the data to demonstrate video piracy patterns that are the heart of its case against YouTube. But it sought to diffuse privacy fears, saying it had no interest in identifying individual users.

One outstanding disagreement between the two parties is on how to handle the YouTube viewership data of YouTube and Google employees, which Judge Stanton also had ordered YouTube to turn over as part of the July 1 ruling covering YouTube consumers.

Reyes said the issue could concern not just employees of the defendants, but also those of companies tied to the plaintiffs, including Viacom and the Football Association Premiere League.

In a legal stipulation agreed to by attorneys for all major parties in the case, the sides agreed that the new data privacy agreement did not cover employees and that they would work out how to share this data separately in coming weeks.

YouTube faces two separate, but parallel lawsuits, that for purposes of preliminary motions and evidence discovery are being treated as one. Viacom filed the first lawsuit, and a separate class action was later filed by English Premiere League soccer, several other European sports leagues, along with music publishers and videographers. The cases are unlikely to come to trial before 2009 or 2010.

Sumber: Reuters

Bernanke: economy faces 'numerous difficulties'

2008-07-16T12:29:00.003+07:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies for a second day before Congress amid a backdrop of fading confidence in the U.S. economy.

The Fed chief appears before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday — one day after delivering a sober assessment of the country's economic problems to lawmakers on the Senate side.

Caught between risky cross currents of plodding growth and rising inflation, Fed policymakers are facing "significant challenges" as they try to find a way to right the economy, Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

The Fed can't afford to lower rates again to shore things up because it will aggravate inflation. On the other hand, boosting rates to fend off higher prices would deal a setback to the fragile economy and the already crippled housing market.

Against that background, most economists predict Bernanke and his colleagues will leave rates alone when it meets next on Aug. 5.

It's difficult to chart a course when uncertainty abounds, Bernanke said.

Over the rest of this year, the economy will grow "appreciably below its trend rate" mostly because of continued weakness in housing markets, high energy prices and tight credit conditions.

At the same time, inflation has remained high and "seems likely to move temporarily higher in the near term," Bernanke warned lawmakers.

Consumer prices are expected to climb higher in June, while industrial production probably will be flat — fresh signs of the twin problems plaguing the country. Those economic reports will be released on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported wholesale prices, driven by skyrocketing gas and
food costs, rose 9.2 percent in the 12 months ending June — the fastest in a quarter-century.
"The economy continues to face numerous difficulties, including ongoing strains in financial markets, declining housing prices, a softening labor market and rising prices of oil, food and other commodities," Bernanke said Tuesday.

Righting wobbly financial markets is another important consideration to getting the economy back on track, he said.

"In general, healthy economic growth depends on well-functioning financial markets," Bernanke said. "Consequently, helping the financial markets to return to more normal functioning will continue to be a top priority," he said.

Bernanke's congressional appearances come just days after the Fed and the Treasury Department came to the rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, offering to throw them a financial lifeline.

The two companies hold or guarantee more than $5 trillion in mortgages — almost half of the nation's total. The Bush administration is asking Congress to temporarily increase lines of credit to Fannie and Freddie and to let the government buy their stock. The Fed has offered to let the companies draw emergency loans.

The pledges of aid have raised concerns on Capitol Hill and elsewhere about the government's role in intervening to ease such financial troubles and the risk posed to taxpayers.

Sumber: Associated Press

IT Admin Locks up San Francisco's Network

2008-07-16T10:57:00.002+07:00

A network administrator has allegedly locked up a multimillion-dollar computer system for the city of San Francisco that handles sensitive data, and he is refusing to give police the password.

Terry Childs, 43, was arrested Sunday and has been charged with four counts of tampering with a computer network. According to the office of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Childs made changes to the city's Fibre WAN (wide area network), allegedly rendering it inaccessible to administrators. He also "set up devices to gain unauthorized access to the system," the DA's office said in a statement.

The Fibre WAN is used to connect computers in buildings throughout the city and carries about 60 percent of the networking traffic for the city government. On Tuesday it was functioning normally, but the city no longer has administrative access to the switches and routers on the network, according to Ron Vinson, chief administrative officer with the city's Department of Telecommunication Information Services. "It was a little unnerving to discover that this person had created this fiefdom of access to our network," he said.

"We continue to monitor the system to make sure that we do maintain the integrity of the network," he added. "The issue at hand is the access codes that we are trying to get our hands around."
Childs was arrested on Sunday at his home in Pittsburg, California, the DA's office said.
In the days leading up to his arrest, his behavior had become erratic and he had become hostile toward his colleagues, according to a source familiar with the situation. After his arrest, he first gave some bogus passwords to police and then refused to reveal the real passwords, the source said.

Childs is a network administrator with the city's Department of Telecommunication Information Services, which runs the city's critical IT operations, including the e-mail system, Web site, 311 call center and telecommunications infrastructure.

Childs remains in custody, Harris said in a Monday afternoon news conference. "The bail has been set at [US]$5 million, and the exposure in this case if he were convicted on all counts would be seven years in prison," she said. He is set to be arraigned on Thursday.

Harris said it's unknown why Childs allegedly tampered with the system.

Vinson said his department recently hired a new security chief who oversaw an assessment of the group's security. Over the past few weeks that assessment discovered evidence of tampering. "It was escalated to the police department, who brought their own forensics team that came in to do their own investigation of our network," he said.

That investigation led to Childs' arrest, he said.

The city is now working with Cisco Systems to repair the problem, but if it has to replace the routers and switches that have been tampered with, it could easily face a $250,000 bill for the incident.
The situation doesn't reflect well on San Francisco's IT staff, said Andrew Storms, director of security operations with security vendor nCircle. "His managers should have known better," he said via instant message. "Some safety nets and best practices were probably overlooked if one person could have caused this much damage."

San Francisco began rolling out the Fibre WAN about four years ago as a less-costly alternative to leased data lines, Vinson said. To date the city has spent more than $3 million on the project.

With administrative access to switches and routers, could Childs now seize control of the city's network? "Not where he's sitting now," Vinson said.

Sumber: PC World

Users allege MobileMe lacks true 'push'

2008-07-15T11:17:00.005+07:00

While it appears that information between Apple's new service and the iPhone are syncing as advertised, users are finding that push services between the computer and MobileMe don't work the same way.

Indeed, Apple has advertised the service using words such as "immediate," which would lead most to believe its service is exactly that fast. But even after applying an update said to enable computers for MobileMe, immediacy doesn't appear to be happening.

Both on Apple's own support forums and across the Web, users began to voice their disappointment with the discovery. A forum specifically on the subject of push services with MobileMe on Apple's support site included some 155 topics, most of which were complaints of some form.

"I'm running MobileMe 1.1 on both my MacBook Pro (10.5.4) and my Mac Pro (10.5.4) and this Push contact stuff is working nothing like how my Exchange account works with my work server," poster 'trackfive' wrote.

Over on MacRumors, there was much of the same. Many accused Apple of misleading consumers at the WWDC keynote where MobileMe was introduced, as well as in marketing material leading up to the launch.

A reader even took screenshots of the promotional text from before and after the issue came to a head, showing Apple had changed the text from "Push happens automatically, instantly, and continuously" to clarifying that the changes happen instantly from the iPhone and MobileMe to the computer, however at a regular interval from computer to MobileMe.

In an article on Apple's support site, the company admitted that those changes would only be delivered every 15 minutes (every hour in Mac OS X 10.4.11). Similarly, Windows computers would sync at the same interval.

Apple has not commented further on the sync issues. It is believed that the next release of Snow Leopard may fix the problem as it has built-in Exchange support, although it is not known if changes unveiled there would extend to MobileMe.

Essentially, since MobileMe sync is tied to the preexisting sync services functionality of Mac OS X that has been there for quite some time, it is also hamstrung by the architecture of those services.

It should be noted, tests of the service indicate that near-instantaneous sync does occur from iPhone to MobileMe and vice-versa, as well as from MobileMe to the Mac.

Sumber: Beta News

Restore and update your iPhone 3G to squash bugs

2008-07-15T10:37:00.001+07:00

If you have an iPhone 3G and haven’t restored it yet, do so. The first batch of iPhone 3G units shipped with iPhone OS 2.0 5A345, but the current build is 2.0 5A347. A handful of bugs were squashed with the new iteration, which brings enhanced stability and other enhancements.

Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t designed iTunes to recognize the difference between the iPhone OS 2.0 builds. As such, you’ll need to perform a “Restore” function to pull the new release.

In order to restore, connect your iPhone to your system then click the Restore button under the Summary tab in iTunes. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos and other data on the phone (including any third-party applications), but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

The restoration process itself may eliminate some iPhone issues.

Sumber: iPhone Atlas

Did Anyone Hear The Newest Google GPhone Rumor?

2008-07-15T09:38:00.002+07:00

Despite evidence pretty much proving its falsehood, this is one rumor that Just. Refuses. To. Die. Depending on which tech blog you choose to believe, the GPhone does exist or doesn't exist. No one seems to be listening to what Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has to say on the matter.

As Gizmodo writes, the rumors seems to stem from an inaccurately reported quote at a recent press conference attended by Googlers Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt. A reporter for The Hollywood Reporter said, "The trio of Google execs also used the opportunity to talk about the inroads the company is making with its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone."

This was taken to mean that Google is, in fact, working on a GPhone.

Remember, at Google's recent I/O conference, the head of the Android program got up in front of a room full of developers and publicly stated that Google is not building its own hardware? Does anyone not remember this? What more do you want Google to say on the subject?
Michael Arrington's TechCrunch simply doesn't believe Google. It is citing sources that firmly believe that a company called Ammunition Design Group is designing what will be a Google-branded GPhone. Ammunition Design Group apparently also designed some phones for a few companies you may have heard of, such as Dell, HP, and Palm.

Personally, until they give me a really good reason not to, I am going to believe what the Google executives say. Google has no reason to get into the hardware business. If it were truly interested in building and selling its own line of cell phones, it would not have created the Open Handset Alliance, which includes hardware manufacturers such as HTC.

Sumber: Information Week

P2P not hurting DVD, Blu-ray sales as revenues up from 2007

2008-07-15T08:08:00.002+07:00

Consumers may be tightening their belts, but that reduction apparently hasn't affected DVD sales just yet. In fact, spending on DVDs and Blu-ray discs during the first half of 2008 showed a slight increase over the same period a year ago, according to data collected by Home Media Magazine. Spending on rentals rose even more, indicating that perhaps part of consumers' money-saving efforts involve cozying up to a movie at home for entertainment instead of heading out for a night on the town—or downloading from the Internet.

Home Media found that sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs rose from $6.8 billion in early 2007 to $6.87 billion in the first half of this year—a modest increase of 1.1 percent. This number appears to coincide with "studio reports" saying that unit sales were also up 1.1 percent to 412.3 million discs in the first half of 2008, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Rentals increased by 2.6 percent, from $3.7 billion to $3.9 billion.

Analysts seem to think that these numbers also serve as proof that downloading—legal or illegal—is not hurting DVD sales as much as Doomsdayers would like to think. "The fact is, despite what many on Wall Street seem to think, there is very little digital downloading going on," Adams Media Research president Adams Media Research said. "We're talking about $118 million in 2007 spending, and about $254 million this year—so against a $24 billion packaged media market, it's really not making much of a dent at this point."

This is despite P2P traffic recently shifting its focus from music to movies and soaring BitTorrent traffic. This, of course, is happening right alongside the IFPI's and MPAA's legal crackdowns on P2P sites. In fact, many observers have questioned whether the motion picture industry's efforts are backfiring and merely drawing more attention to the fact that people can find music, movies, and TV online for free. So far, it appears that most of the general public is still happily doing things the old-fashioned way.

Not so for other traditional media, like CDs. Online music stores have been moving quickly up in the ranks (and recently taking the number one spot) among all music retailers, while CD sales have been tanking for several years. This is likely due to the fact that all four of the major labels have now ditched DRM in their online sales, while the movie and TV industries still act as if they will ride out DRM (in their legit sales) to the grave. With heavy usage restrictions on online purchases/rentals and not-very-easy-to-use online services, it comes as no huge surprise that consumers are content to just relax with a bowl of popcorn, pop in a DVD or Blu-ray, and watch it on a giant flat-screen TV.

Sumber: ars technica

Tesla Motors to open store in Silicon Valley

2008-07-15T07:56:00.001+07:00

Electric car startup Tesla said it will be opening its second store July 22. According to Ze’ev Drori, CEO of Tesla, the store is located in Menlo Park, California, basically in the neighborhood of the company’s headquarters in San Carlos. The first store was opened in Los Angeles.

The new location will sell products and also offer service, additionally the Silicon Valley location will be the “place where all final assembly, tests, and preparations are made with each car prior to customers’ delivery” Drori writes. The company has plans to also open stores in Chicago, Miami, New York and Seattle.

Drori’s blog post also details the production status of the Lotus Elise-based Tesla Roadster. He noted that there are 27 roadsters in assembly and 12 already have been delivered. The company plans to get about four cars per week into the hands of customers. The first cars, referred to as the “Founders Series” went to seven individuals including former CEO Martin Eberhard, chairman Elon Musk, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, board member Antonio Gracias, investor Jeff Skoll and talk show host Jay Leno.

Tesla recently announced that it will move manufacturing of its second car, the “Model S” sedan, to California.

Sumber: TG Daily

Concerns raised about lack of Mac-to-MobileMe push sync

2008-07-14T12:10:00.001+07:00

While Apple markets MobileMe primarily as a push service, some are now discovering that updates to the Mac don't translate to immediate updates for the web or for Apple's handhelds, raising questions about whether the new service is as full-featured as promised.

As illustrated in an official knowledge base article and supported by reports from Mac Rumors users, instantaneous data sync only occurs whenever a change is made from either the MobileMe web interface or a portable device such as the iPhone or iPod touch.

Even with Mac OS X 10.5.4 and a MobileMe update, however, Mac users just won't see the same level of speed when they make changes from the computer itself. The automatic option for sending data from the Mac is now known to be inherently tied to the operating system's Sync Services, which don't relay information except at regular 15-minute intervals -- a potential hassle for users expecting content to automatically spread within moments to all their computers and devices.

And while it's simple to override the automatic schedule with a manual sync, the absence of full computer-based push has quickly been labeled a disappointment to some users and reveals that Apple has yet to completely integrate push information with Mac OS X.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard is believed to solve the issue for business customers with built-in Exchange support but isn't yet known to have a new sync model that would deliver the updates in real time.

Sumber: AppleInsider

Mental Activity May Affect Autism-Linked Genes

2008-07-13T23:04:00.003+07:00

New research suggests that some cases of autism arise from defects in genes that can be turned on or off by mental activity, a finding that sheds light on the devastating condition and might
eventually lead to strategies to treat it.

The findings are drawn from gene scans of about 100 Middle Eastern families in which autism is unusually common. The disorder is marked by social isolation, speech problems and strange, repetitive activities.

The study, done by a large international team and reported today in the journal Science, adds to the growing evidence that autism may result from problems in the immensely complicated process by which some networks of brain cells expand and many others die in the first few years after birth.
The fact that three of the half-dozen genes identified in the new report are regulated by "neuronal activity" -- feeling, thinking, doing -- suggests in theory that changing the experiences of autistic children could change the course of the disease.

"The genes implicated in our study are ones that interact with the environment and are involved in how the brain converts what it sees from the environment," said Christopher A. Walsh, a neurologist and chief of genetics at Children's Hospital in Boston who headed the team. "If we can activate those genes by other mechanisms, we might be able to help the kids."

Other researchers agreed that the discovery that some "autism genes" are also "experience genes" is provocative and, at some level, hopeful.

"If that is a general mechanism, then the other genes that have been identified as associated with autism should be expected to be driven by activity, as well. But we don't know that yet," said Daniel H. Geschwind, who is co-director of the Center for Autism Research and Treatment at the University of California at Los Angeles.

The study demonstrates that "environmental experiences and influences that shape postnatal brain development are not irrelevant," said Isabelle Rapin, a pediatric neurologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She added, however, that "we have but the most primitive ideas about what the proteins coded by identified missing or mutated genes do."

Autism is one of the more urgent health problems of the 21st century -- and one of the more mystifying. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year reported that 1 in every 150 American children has an "autism spectrum disorder," which includes conditions from the severe and disabling to the mild and often-overlooked.

Some states have experienced huge increases. In California, the number of children getting services for autism tripled from 1987 to 1998 and then doubled between 1998 and 2002. In Minnesota, diagnosed autism increased from two cases per 1,000 schoolchildren in 1998 to 6.6 cases per 1,000 in 2002.

In most cases, the problems are apparent by age 3. In many, a normally developing child suddenly regresses, stops talking and becomes interested in only a few highly stereotyped activities.
Studies have suggested that genes probably contribute about 70 percent to a child's risk of developing autism. Whether environmental exposures or life events can trigger the disease is unknown. Numerous studies have found that childhood vaccinations, and a mercury-containing preservative that vaccines once contained, almost certainly do not play a role.

The new study, led by Walsh and Eric M. Morrow, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, studied 104 families from the Arab Middle East, Turkey and Pakistan. In 88, the parents were cousins. The average family had two autistic children. One Kuwaiti and one Pakistani family, however, each had four.

Marriage between first cousins doubles the risk of neurological birth defects. The researchers said they think that shared ancestry would increase the risk of autism caused by recessive mutations that cause problems only when a child inherits the defective gene from both parents. By studying cases caused by such rare events, researchers can often learn about the biochemical and genetic underpinnings of the far more common cases in which there is no inbreeding.

The researchers found six genes with mutations or missing pieces. Three had been identified by Michael E. Greenberg, a Harvard neurobiologist, as members of a group of genes that are regulated -- turned up or down -- by the activity of the cells containing them and of the nerve networks those cells inhabit. Furthermore, two of the six genes are known to be involved in the growth of axons, the tendrils that nerve cells send out to contact other cells.

Many brain cell connections are prenatal, hard-wired and do not depend on experience. The new findings suggest that autism may involve problems that occur later, when nerve networks branch out and make solid connections, or loosen and are pruned back, a process essential to learning.
"Autism is a disorder of social learning for sure," Morrow said.

If there is a connection between the genes' activity and that of brain cells responding to experience, then it may be possible to stimulate the cells in a way that wakes up or gets around the defective genes.

The researchers looked for one of the gene defects in autistic children whose parents were not related and found it, but it remains unclear how applicable this study is to garden-variety autism.
Many of the Middle Eastern children had other neurological problems, such as epilepsy. Whether the activity-driven gene defects are also present when autism occurs by itself is unknown.

Washington Post

Best of the App Store: Social Networking

2008-07-13T20:56:00.003+07:00

One of the most popular categories for software in the App Store, social networking lets users stay in contact no matter where they are. We pick a few favorites, including apps that let iPhone and iPod owners find nearby friends and upload photos as they're taken.

AIM
AOL's AIM (free) is one of the few instant messaging apps available on launch for the App Store and so becomes one of our top picks almost by default.The software is relatively simple, but allows multiple ongoing chats and also takes advantage of the iPhone's camera: users can snap a photo for their buddy icon directly from the app.Even so, AIM is missing any location-based features, and doesn't allow sending images to friends, either of which would be appreciated for new iPhone 3G owners.

Facebook
While Facebook has been lauded for its iPhone-specific web app, its native app (free) exploits the iPhone and iPod hardware for features that aren't practical on a web page.It's now possible to upload photos directly to Facebook and to join text chats with other Facebook members (web or otherwise) using Facebook Chat. On iPhones, users can also look up friends who have made their phone numbers public to make a call.Not all features translate over: Facebook apps are inaccessible, and members' Walls are currently unavailable despite their being available in the iPhone's web version. Facebook does, however, promise to update the app in coming weeks.

Kyte Producer
Photo uploading apps are already common on the App Store, but Kyte Producer (free) is rare for its ability to offer live interaction with others.It requires an iPhone (the iPod touch is excluded) but lets users create live "channels" on Kyte that show users recent photos in real-time and also allows real-time chat with any other Kyte member tuned into the channel. More passive users can also watch other Kyte photo feeds.Notably, though, Kyte's app doesn't support the live video the website has become well-known for -- an omission that may be due to the lack of pre-supplied video recording support with the iPhone itself.

MySpace Mobile
Until now, MySpace members have never had an iPhone-oriented version of the social networking site; the alternatives were to either use the bare mobile page for simple WAP browsers or else to deal with the frequently cluttered full profile pages.MySpace Mobile (free) is thankfully much less cluttered than the desktop site but allows most of the same comments, status, and other features, although it does conspicuously omit the blogging feature.Like its rival at Facebook, MySpace integrates with an iPhone's camera to upload photos, though it lacks support for MySpace IM to compete against Facebook Chat.Without Adobe Flash support or a suitable plugin, it also omits profile music -- an omission that may be considered a blessing by some users.

ShoZu
The ultimate example of a photo uploading utility for the current App Store may be ShoZu (free).Its most impressive feature may simply be the sheer number of photo sites and social networks it supports: the app will send images from an iPhone or iPod touch directly to very common sites like Flickr, Photobucket, and Picasa but also social networks like Facebook, blog systems such as Wordpress, and even news organizations like the BBC and Reuters.It's also appreciated that many of these same sites also have support for many of their native features: it's possible to tag and comment on images as well as check or make status updates on Facebook and other similar pages.Video is unsurprisingly not an option, but in our experience there's very little ShoZu lacks for those who can't wait to get home to upload their photos. It may well be our definitive pick among the 500 apps available for the App store's initial launch.

Twitterific
Twitterific (free) has been touted by Apple with the launch of the App Store, and not without good reason: it takes advantage of nearly every feature of the iPhone and iPod touch from the outset, and looks good while doing it.

The software is polished and permits virtually all the public and direct messaging features of the web version, but also a few device-native features. Both iPhones and iPods can mark when tweets have been made by nearby users, mark the user's own position, and upload photos.

One also doesn't have to leave Twitterific to visit a web link: a basic web browser is built into the app.

The only complaint so far is that scrolling is at times slightly jerky compared to other apps, suggesting that there may be some optimization needed. Those who detest built-in ads may also want to investigate Twitterific Premium, which for $10 eliminates the appearance of any ads at the top of the main Twitter feed.

TypePad
As the only full-scale blogging app on launch, TypePad (free) is almost a category of its own but is nonetheless notable for just how complete it is.Users can not only make a full post but attach multiple photos (including those from an iPhone's camera) but crop those images and automatically set TypePad to update a Twitter account when the blog is updated.We do wish location features were built in, but the ability to update a blog when on the road can't be underestimated; hopefully other blogging engines are given apps of their own in the near future.

AppleInsider

Microsoft Announces $299 Price Tag For Xbox 360, New Model With 60 GB

2008-07-13T20:38:00.002+07:00

It seems like the rumors about the imminent price cut of Xbox 360 were true. In a press statement released on Sunday, Microsoft has confirmed that it has lowered the price of its Xbox 360 Pro with $50.

The model, which includes a 20 GB hard drive, will sell starting today for $299 instead of $349.
Also, Microsoft unveiled an upgraded version of Xbox 360, which features a 60 GB hard drive and will go on sale in early August for $349.

Besides the new 60 GB version, Microsoft will continue to sell the Xbox 360 Arcade version, which comes with a 256MB memory unit and five Xbox LIVE Arcade games for $279 and the premium Xbox 360 Elite console that includes a 120GB hard drive for $449.

Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft, explained that the new version was introduced to meet the demand of the customers for more storage space.

“No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 can deliver, and now you'll have three times the storage to manage all that great content,” he said.

Last time when Microsoft slashed the price of its console was last year in August before the release of its iconic game, Halo 3.

In the past few months, there were various rumors about an upgraded version of Xbox 360, including some reports about an external Blu-ray unit, but it seems like Microsoft is decided to concentrate on its Xbox Live service as a distribution channel for HD content.

However, despite Microsoft’s announcement, Sony is decided to keep the “most expensive gaming console” label for its PlayStation 3. While Microsoft will sell its Xbox 360 for $299, Sony executives are determined to keep the $400 price tag for PS3, which includes a 40 GB hard drive.
Since the beginning of the year, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 registered poor sales in the United States, being almost constantly outsold its rivals, PS3 and Nintendo Wii.

That’s maybe the reason why Sony officials said won’t consider a price cut for PS3, at least for this year. PlayStation 3 was released in November 2006 in Japan and US and the gaming console is being currently sold for $400 in US.

Instead, as Sony CFO Nobuyuki Oneda said the company wishes to make its console more profitable. In a report released last month, Forbes said that Play Station 3 has cost Sony an incredible $3 billion, mainly because of the company’s pricing strategy for the product.
As PS3 hit the market, Sony wanted to recover some of the market share that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 had gained, mainly due to its launch a year before PS3’s. Sony thought that by selling its consoles at a price that would be a little less that their actual cost, it might gain more market share and it would be able to use it to make profit for the company from exclusive gaming titles and sales of its patented Blu-Ray. However, Sony has managed to win the Blu-ray versus HD DVD battle due to its PS3.

What is more, after enough units would have been sold, production cost would have dropped, and Sony would have ceased to sell PS3s at a loss. Even though the PS3 console seems to have gotten a few very good exclusive titles recently, and has shown signs of recovery during the past months, it is still a long way to go until Sony will be making a decent profit out of it.

With Microsoft’s Xbox 360 going for $299, (or $349 for 60 GB version), Sony’s PS3 is the most expensive console on the market.

Bloomberg News reports that speaking about this issue, Sir Howard Stringer said in an interview that Sony won’t lower the price of its PS3 and he added that a price reduction by Microsoft would be evidence that the Xbox 360 was falling behind in the contest for sales.
Instead, it seems like Sony will also focus on releasing new game titles for PS3 in order to boost the sales.

Few weeks ago, Nintendo officials made a similar statement, saying that no price cut for their successful Wii are considered for this year.

Sumber: eFluxMedia

Glitches mar Apple's iPhone debut

2008-07-12T10:53:00.002+07:00

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The new Apple iPhone went on sale Friday morning, but early reports of software problems overshadowed the debut of the faster, cheaper device.

As eager buyers flocked to Apple stores, news sites chronicled reports that Apple's iTunes store was struggling with a massive outage that prevented buyers from activating their phones.

Apple's new iPhone is built on third-generation, or 3G, technology that is speedier than the original iPhone's network.

As Fortune.com first reported, AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive carrier in the United States, cut the price of the iPhone in half: an 8-GB model sells for $199, or $200 less than the original iPhone. A 16-GB version costs $299.

The Apple Store on New York City's tony Fifth Avenue, which drew a crowd of 150 people just after 5:00 a.m. ET, was moving customers through the line in about 10 minutes per customer when the doors opened at 8:00 a.m., according to Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt.

High expectations
But problems soon appeared. Elmer-DeWitt, who live-blogged from the store, was one of the first to report difficulty setting up his new phone. Eventually he was told, along with other customers, to go home and try to activate his device later.

Elmer-DeWitt was able to get his phone to work about three hours after his purchase. By early afternoon, there were more anecdotal reports online of users completing the activation process.
The system crash affected buyers throughout the 21countries where the new iPhone debuted Friday. Owners of the original iPhone and the iPod touch looking to upgrade their software were also hobbled by the breakdown.

The iTunes outage wasn't the only glitch Apple customers encountered Friday. Users attempting to sign up for MobileMe, which synchs e-mail and other data across Mac devices, also experienced technical problems, according to the Associated Press. Apple began offering the $99-a-year service Friday.

The iPhone 3G rollout was in stark contrast to last year's debut, when hordes of eager buyers camped out for days at Apple stores around the country and the purchasing process went off without a hitch - at least on Apple's end. AT&T, meanwhile, was hounded with activation problems.

On Friday, AT&T was quick to pin the blame on Apple. "There's a worldwide issue with iTunes that Apple is working to resolve," an AT&T representative said in an e-mail. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Early hangups aside, one analyst predicted Friday that the second version of the iPhone will have a stronger debut than its predecessor.

One major reason: Apple is releasing the 3G model around the world on Friday. The original iPhone was rolled out from country to country over the course of the last year.
"Based on on pent up demand, expanded distribution, lower pricing," RBC analyst Mike Abramsky wrote in a research note Friday, "Apple ships 1 million 3G iPhones in the first weekend." Abramsky said that would be roughly four times the number of iPhones shipped during the same time frame last year.

Apple sold more than 6 million original iPhones.

Some analysts warn that expectations for the new iPhone are too high. For one thing, the economy is a lot weaker than it was a year ago. Consumers may not no so eager to shell out the $2,200 or more it would cost for the iPhone and the mandatory two-year subscription.
Early reviews were more subdued than the glowing critiques of the first iPhone.

David Pogue of the New York Times called the iPhone 3G "a nice upgrade," but suggested it wasn't something existing iPhone owners should rush out and buy. The real novelty, Pogue said, was the App Store, where owners of the old and new iPhone can purchase games and other software - most for $9.99 or less.

Sumber: CNN Money

Toshinobu Kubota

2008-07-12T10:42:00.003+07:00

Toshinobu Kubota, yang biasa dipanggil Shinji mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepada keluarganya di negerinya yang lama untuk mencari hidup yang lebih baik di Amerika. Ayahnya memberinya uang simpanan keluarga yang disembunyikan di dalam kantong kulit.“Di sini keadaan sulit,” katanya sambil memeluk putranya dan mengucapkan selamat tinggal. “Kau adalah harapan kami.”Shinji naik ke kapal lintas Atlantik yang menawarkan transport gratis bagi pemuda-pemuda yang mau bekerja sebagai penyekop batubara sebagai imbalan ongkos pelayaran selama sebulan. Kalau Shinji menemukan emas di Pegunungan Colorado , keluarganya akan menyusul.

Berbulan-bulan Shinji mengolah tanahnya tanpa kenal lelah. Urat emas yang tidak besar memberinya penghasilan yang pas-pasan namun teratur. Setiap hari ketika pulang ke pondoknya yang terdiri atas dua kamar, Shinji merindukan dan sangat ingin disambut oleh wanita yang dicintainya. Satu-satunya yang disesalinya ketika menerima tawaran untuk mengadu nasib ke Amerika adalah terpaksa meninggalkan Asaka. Maksudoya sebelum secara resmi punya kesempatan mendekati gadis itu. Sepanjang ingatannya, keluarga mereka sudah lama berteman dan selama itu pula diam-diam dia berharap bisa memperistri Asaka.

Rambut Asaka yang ikal panjang dan senyumnya yang menawan membuatnya menjadi putri Keluarga Yoshinori Matsutoya yang paling cantik. Shinji baru sempat duduk di sampingnya dalam acara perayaan pesta bunga dan mengarang alasan-alasan konyol untuk singgah di rumah gadis itu agar bisa betemu dengannya. Setiap malam sebelum tidur di kabinnya, Shinji ingin sekali membelai rambut Asaka yang pirang kemerahan dan memeluk gadis itu. Akhirnya, dia menyurati ayahnya, meminta bantuannya untuk mewujudkan impiannya.

Kira-kira setahun kemudian, sebuah telegram datang mengabarkan rencana untuk membuat hidup Shinji menjadi lengkap. Pak Yoshinori Matsutoya akan mengirimkan putrinya kepada Shinji di Amerika. Putrinya itu suka bekerja keras dan punya intuisi bisnis. Dia akan bekerja sama dengan Shinji selama setahun dan membantunya mengembangkan bisnis penambangan emas. Diharapkan, setelah setahun itu keluarganya akan mampu datang ke Amerika untuk menghadiri pernikahan mereka.

Hati Shinji sangat bahagia. Dia menghabiskan satu bulan berikutnya untuk mengubah pondoknya menjadi tempat tinggal yang nyaman. Dia membeli ranjang sederhana untuk tempat tidurnya di ruang duduk dan menata bekas tempat tidurnya agar pantas untuk seorang wanita. Gorden dari bekas karung goni yang menutupi kotornya jendela diganti dengan kain bermotif bunga dari bekas karung terigu. Di meja samping tempat tidur dia meletakkan wadah kaleng berisi bunga-bunga kering yang dipetiknya di padang rumput.Akhirnya, tibalah hari yang sudah dinanti-nantikannya sepanjang hidup. Dengan tangan membawa seikat bunga daisy segar yang baru dipetik, dia pergi ke stasiun kereta api. Asap mengepul dan roda-roda berderit ketika kereta api mendekat lalu berhenti. Shinji melihat setiap jendela, mencari senyum dan rambut ikal Asaka.Jantungnya berdebar kencang penuh harap, kemudian tersentak karena kecewa.

Bukan Asaka, tetapi Yumi Matsutoya kakaknya, yang turun dari kereta api. Gadis itu berdiri malu-malu di depannya, matanya menunduk. Shinji hanya bisa memandang terpana. Kemudian, dengan tangan gemetar diulurkannya buket bunga itu kepada Yumi. “Selamat datang,” katanya lirih, matanya menatap nanar.Senyum tipis menghias wajah Yumi yang tidak cantik.“Aku senang ketika Ayah mengatakan kau ingin aku datang ke sini,” kata Yumi, sambil sekilas memandang mata Shinji sebelum cepat-cepat menunduk lagi.

“Aku akan mengurus bawaanmu,” kata Shinji dengan senyum terpaksa.

Bersama-sama mereka berjalan ke kereta kuda. Pak Matsutoya dan ayahnya benar. Yumi memang punya intuisi bisnis yang hebat. Sementara Shinji bekerja di tambang, dia bekerja di kantor. Di meja sederhana di sudut ruang duduk, dengan cermat Yumi mencatat semua kegiatan di tambang. Dalam waktu 6 bulan, asset mereka telah berlipat dua. Masakannya yang lezat dan senyumnya yang tenang menghiasi pondok itu dengan sentuhan ajaib seorang wanita.Tetapi bukan wanita ini yang kuinginkan, keluh Shinji dalam hati, setiap malam sebelum tidur kecapekan di ruang duduk. Mengapa mereka mengirim Yumi? Akankah dia bisa bertemu lagi dengan Asaka? Apakah impian lamanya untuk memperistri Asaka harus dilupakannya? Setahun lamanya Yumi dan Shinji bekerja, bermain, dan tertawa bersama, tetapi tak pernah ada ungkapan cinta. Pernah sekali, Yumi mencium pipi Shinji sebelum masuk ke kamarnya. Pria itu hanya tersenyum canggung. Sejak itu, kelihatannya Yumi cukup puas dengan jalan-jalan berdua menjelajahi pegunungan atau dengan mengobrol di beranda setelah makan malam.

Pada suatu sore di musim semi, hujan deras mengguyur punggung bukit, membuat jalan masuk ke tambang mereka longsor. Dengan kesal Shinji mengisi karung-karung pasir dan meletakkannya sedemikan rupa untuk membelokkan arus air. Badannya lelah dan basah kuyup, tetapi tampaknya usahanya sia-sia.

Tiba-tiba Yumi muncul di sampingnya, memegangi karung goni yang terbuka. Shinji menyekop dan memasukkan pasir kedalamnya, kemudian dengan tenaga sekuat lelaki, Yumi melemparkan karung itu ke tumpukan lalu membuka karung lainnya. Berjam-jam mereka bekerja dengan kaki terbenam lumpur setinggi lutut, sampai hujan reda. Dengan berpegangan tangan mereka berjalan pulang ke pondok.Sambil menikmati sup panas, Shinji mendesah, “Aku takkan dapat menyelamatkan tambang itu tanpa dirimu. Terima kasih, Yumi.” “Sama-sama,” gadis itu menjawab sambil tersenyum tenang seperti biasa, lalu tanpa berkata-kata dia masuk ke kamarnya.

Beberapa hari kemudian, sebuah telegram datang mengabarkan bahwa Keluarga Matsutoya dan Keluarga Kubota akan tiba minggu berikutnya. Meskipun berusaha keras menutup-nutupinya, jantung Shinji kembali berdebar-debar seperti dulu karena harapan akan bertemu lagi dengan Asaka. Dia dan Yumi pergi ke stasiun kereta api. Mereka melihat keluarga mereka turun dari kereta api di ujung peron.

Ketika Asaka muncul, Yumi menoleh kepada Shinji. “Sambutlah dia,” katanya.

Dengan kaget, Shinji berkata tergagap, “Apa maksudmu?” “Shinji, sudah lama aku tahu bahwa aku bukan putri Matsutoya yang kau inginkan. Aku memperhatikan bagaimana kau bercanda dengan Asaka dalam acara Perayaan pesta bunga lalu.” Dia mengangguk ke arah adiknya yang sedang menuruni tangga kereta. “Aku tahu bahwa dia, bukan aku, yang kauinginkan menjadi istrimu.”

“Tapi…”Yumi meletakkan jarinya pada bibir Shinji. “Ssstt,” bisiknya. “Aku mencintaimu, Shinji. Aku selalu mencintaimu. Karena itu, yang kuinginkan hanya melihatmu bahagia. Sambutlah adikku.”Shinji mengambil tangan yumi dari wajahnya dan menggenggamnya. Ketika Yumi menengadah, untuk pertama kalinya Shinji melihat betapa cantiknya gadis itu. Dia ingat ketika mereka berjalan-jalan di padang rumput, ingat malam-malam tenang yang mereka nikmati di depan perapian, ingat ketika Yumi membantunya mengisi karung-karung pasir. Ketika itulah dia menyadari apa yang sebenarnya selama berbulan-bulan telah tidak diketahuinya.

“Tidak, Yumi. Engkaulah yang kuinginkan.” Shinji merengkuh gadis itu ke dalam pelukannya dan mengecupnya dengan cinta yg tiba-tiba membuncah didalam dadanya.

Keluarga mereka berkerumun mengelilingi mereka dan berseru-seru, “Kami datang untuk menghadiri pernikahan kalian!”

The Truth Behind the Fantasy of Porn

2008-07-11T21:52:00.005+07:00

Shelley Lubben — Former Porn Actress

Dedicated to all the porn actresses who caught HIV, died from drug overdose and committed suicide.

Sex-packed porn films featuring freshly-dyed blondes whose evocative eyes say "I want you" is quite possibly one of the greatest deceptions of all time. Trust me, I know. I did it all the time and I did it for the lust of power and the love of money. I never liked sex. I never wanted sex, and in fact I was more apt to spend time with Jack Daniels than some of the studs I was paid to "fake it" with. That's right, none of us freshly-dyed blondes like doing porn. In fact, we hate it. We hate being touched by strangers who care nothing about us. We hate being degraded with their foul smells and sweaty bodies. Some women hate it so much they can be heard vomiting in the bathroom between scenes. Others can be found outside smoking an endless chain of Marlboro lights…

But the porn industry wants YOU to think we porn actresses love sex. They want you to think we enjoy being degraded by all kinds of repulsive acts. The truth, porn actresses have showed up on the set not knowing about certain requirements and were told by porn producers to do it or leave without being paid. Work or never work again. Yes, we made the choice. Some of us needed the money. But we were manipulated and coerced and even threatened. Some of us caught HIV as a result of that coercion. I personally caught Herpes, a non-curable sexually transmitted disease. Another porn actress went home after a long night of numbing her pain and put a pistol to her head and pulled the trigger. Now she's dead.

It's safe to say most women who turn to porn acting as a money-making enterprise, probably didn't grow up in healthy childhoods either. Indeed, many actresses admit they've experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse and neglect by parents. Some were raped by relatives and molested by neighbors. When we were little girls we wanted to play with dollies and be mommies, not have big scary men get on top of us. So we were taught at a young age that sex made us valuable. The same horrible violations we experienced then, we relive as we perform our tricks in front of the camera. And we hate every minute of it. We're traumatized little girls living on antidepressants, drugs and alcohol acting out our pain in front of you who continue to abuse us.

As we continue to traumatize ourselves by making more adult films, we use more and more drugs and alcohol. We live in constant fear of catching AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Every time there's an HIV scare we race to the nearest clinic for an emergency checkup. Pornographers insist on giving viewers the fantasy sex they demand all the while sacrificing the very ones who make it happen. In other words, no condoms allowed. Herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, and other diseases are the normal anxieties we walk around with daily. We get tested monthly but we know testing isn't prevention. Besides worrying about catching diseases from porn sex, there are other harmful activities we engage in that are also very dangerous. Some of us have had physical tearing and damage to internal body parts.

When porn actresses call it a day and head home we attempt to have normal healthy relationships, but some of our boyfriends get jealous and physically abuse us. So instead we marry our porn directors, while others prefer lesbian relationships. It's a real memory making moment when our daughter accidentally walks out and sees mommy kissing another girl. My daughter will vouch for that one.

On our days off we walk around like zombies with a beer in one hand and a shot of whiskey in the other. We aren't up to cleaning so we live in filth most of the time, or we hire a sweet foreign lady to come in and clean up our mess. Porn actresses aren't the best cooks either. Ordering in is normal for us and most of the time we throw up after we eat because we're bulimic.

For porn actresses who have children, we are the world's worst mothers. We yell and scream and hit our kids for no reason. Most of the time we are intoxicated or high, and our four year olds are the ones picking us up off the floor. When clients come over for sex, we lock our children in their rooms and tell them to be quiet. I used to give my daughter a beeper and tell her to wait at the park until I was finished.

The truth is there is no fantasy in porn. It's all a lie. A closer look into the scenes of a porn star's life will show you a movie that the porn industry doesn't want you to see. The real truth is we porn actresses want to end the shame and trauma of our lives but we can't do it alone. We need you men to fight for our freedom and give us back our honor. We need you to hold us in your strong arms while we sob tears over our deep wounds and begin to heal. We want you throw out our movies and help piece together the shattered fragments of our lives. We need you to pray for us so God will hear and repair our ruined lives.

So don't believe the lie anymore. Porn is nothing more than fake sex and lies on videotape. Trust me, I know.

Sumber: Shelley Lubben

New iPhone 3G puts Apple in the game

2008-07-11T20:33:00.002+07:00

RALEIGH, North Carolina, (Reuters Life!) - Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 3G and accompanying App Store is set to put the company known for technology innovation into another lucrative space -- gaming.

Like iTunes, the App Store will allow users to easily buy and download games from publishers and developers while providing trailers, user-generated reviews and even some free game demos. There are already over 175 games available.

Neil Young, president of new iPhone-focused game development studio ngmoco, said iPhone users are spending over 60 percent of their time on the device on features other than phone calls.

"That's a really big deal because it's no longer just a phone. It's a media player, an Internet player, a camera and a games machine that also happens to make telephone calls," he said.

"Apple absolutely gets gaming with iPhone ... Just look at the air time that Apple is dedicating to games and that shows you that they consider games to be a key application for the device." Young left his job as head of Electronic Arts' Los Angeles studio, where he collaborated with Steven Spielberg on game projects like "Boom Blox" for Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii, to focus on creating original iPhone games, which are also playable on any iPod touch device.

"The things that are really exciting to us are games that take advantage of not just the iPhone's accelerometer (a tilting mechanism) or the touch screen, but media that exists on the device and the fact there's a camera and GPS there," he added.

"We can bring awesome gameplay mechanics together with these new technologies and build gaming experience that frankly no one has experienced before."

EA Mobile has a trio of casual-focused launch titles for iPhone -- Tetris, EA Sudoku, and Scrabble -- as well as an exclusive iPhone version of "Spore" shipping September 7, which will allow players to navigate a one-celled organism through the game world by simply tilting the screen. Creating new species is done by touching the screen.

"Games are the obvious next step for the iPhone's entertainment capabilities," said Travis Boatman, vice president of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile.

"The platform gives consumers a very in-depth game experience in terms of sheer horsepower and graphics capabilities."

In terms of performance, the iPhone has the visual fidelity of Sony Corp's PSP and the performance of a Nintendo DS, according to Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of publishing at mobile game publisher Gameloft.

Games for the platform are not limited by size constraints, which the Nintendo DS faces with its cartridges. Gameloft has titles as large as 100MB (megabytes), which is something unheard of for a mobile phone game.

Currently the number two publisher of iPod games, Gameloft has worked closely with Apple as an iPhone development partner on the new 3G device's gaming capabilities. The company has six launch titles: "Block Breaker Deluxe," "Brain Challenge," "Platinum Sudoku," "Platinum Solitaire," "Diamond Twister" and "Chess & Backgammon."

Although developed in just 12 weeks, each of these games makes use of the touch screen and accelerometer.

But the company's second wave of games, including the late August release of "Asphalt Racing 4: Elite Racing," will delve even further into iPhone's gaming capabilities, including Wi-Fi multiplayer racing and the ability to steer cars with either the touch screen or by accelerometer.

Philippe Laurens, senior producer at Gameloft, envisions the iPhone camera coming into play down the line, whether it's used for players to insert their face into a game or incorporated into gameplay like requiring the player to photo something red.

"The cool thing is that Apple gave us a lot of cool tools that enables us to use things like the camera and the GPS within gameplay," said Laurens.

Sumber: Reuters

Rough estimate: 75% of N.Y. iPhone line wants 16GB phone

2008-07-11T20:29:00.002+07:00

NEW YORK--In an informal poll of random people waiting in line for the iPhone 3G outside the Fifth Avenue flagship store, it looks like roughly 75 percent of these uber-early-adopters plan to purchase the higher-end 16GB iPhone.

Most of the other 25 percent plan to get the lower-end 8GB model, though a few people told me they still hadn't made up their minds (they still have an hour, after all) and one said he planned to buy one of each. But since these are the most hardcore of hardcore iPhone fans, it's likely that this 3-to-1 breakdown won't have any bearing on mainstream sales.

Another thing: People seemed to be pretty clueless when they were asked whether they knew if they would have to pay an additional $200 for the phone. Some existing AT&T customers aren't eligible for the subsidy on the phone and will have to pay up, but almost everyone in line seemed to be unaware of this distinction.

I attempted to talk to a few orange-T-shirt-clad Apple Store employees, who were happily chatting it up with people waiting in line, but the employees quickly reverted to the company's standard "clam up around the press" protocol and suggested I track down company publicists before I could learn exactly how many Apple reps were there on hand at the store.

Meanwhile, a kid near the front of the line is repeatedly yelling "INVISIBLE SHIELD!" Please, somebody get him an iPhone and get him home.

Sumber: CNET

Kekuatan tanpa Kekerasan

2008-07-11T19:43:00.002+07:00

Berikut ini adalah cerita masa muda Dr. Arun Gandhi (cucu dariMahatma Gandhi).

Waktu itu Arun masih berusia 16 tahun dan tinggal bersama orang tua disebuah lembaga yang didirikan oleh kakeknya yaitu Mahatma Gandhi,di tengah-tengah kebun tebu, 18 mil di luar kota Durban, Afrika Selatan. Mereka tinggal jauh di pedalaman dan tidak memiliki tetangga. Tidak heran bila Arun dan dua saudara perempuannya sangat senang bila ada kesempatan pergi ke kota untuk mengunjungi teman atau menonton bioskop.

Suatu hari ayah Arun meminta Arun untuk mengantarkan ayahnya ke kotauntuk menghadiri konferensi sehari penuh. Dan Arun sangat gembiradengan kesempatan ini. Tahu bahwa Arun akan pergi ke kota, ibunyamemberikan daftar belanjaan untuk keperluan sehari-hari. Selain itu,ayahnya juga minta untuk mengerjakan pekerjaan yang lama tertunda,seperti memperbaiki mobil di bengkel.

Pagi itu, setiba di tempat konferensi, ayah berkata, "Ayah tunggu kaudisini jam 5 sore. Lalu kita akan pulang ke rumah bersama-sama.".Segera Arun menyelesaikan pekerjaan yang diberikan ayahnya.

Kemudian, Arun pergi ke bioskop, dan dia benar-benar terpikat dengan dua permainan John Wayne sehingga lupa akan waktu. Begitu melihat jam menunjukkan pukul 17:30, langsung Arun berlari menuju bengkel mobil dan terburu-buru menjemput ayahnya yang sudah menunggunya sedari tadi. Saat itu sudah hampir pukul 18:00.

Dengan gelisah ayahnya menanyakan Arun "Kenapa kau terlambat?".

Arun sangat malu untuk mengakui bahwa dia menonton film John Wayne sehingga dia menjawab "Tadi, mobilnya belum siap sehingga saya harus menunggu". Padahal ternyata tanpa sepengetahuan Arun, ayahnya telah menelepon bengkel mobil itu. Dan kini ayahnya tahu kalau Arun berbohong.

Lalu Ayahnya berkata, "Ada sesuatu yang salah dalam membesarkan kau sehingga kau tidak memiliki keberanian untuk menceritakan kebenaran kepada ayah. Untuk menghukum kesalahan ayah ini, ayah akan pulang kerumah dengan berjalan kaki sepanjang 18 mil dan memikirkannya baik-baik.".Lalu, Ayahnya dengan tetap mengenakan pakaian dan sepatunya mulai berjalan kaki pulang ke rumah. Padahal hari sudah gelap, sedangkan jalanan sama sekali tidak rata. Arun tidak bisa meninggalkan ayahnya,maka selama lima setengah jam, Arun mengendarai mobil pelan-pelan di belakang beliau, melihat penderitaan yang dialami oleh ayahnya hanya karena kebodohan bodoh yang Arun lakukan.

Sejak itu Arun tidak pernah akan berbohong lagi.

Pernyataan Arun:"Sering kali saya berpikir mengenai episode ini dan merasa heran. Seandainya Ayah menghukum saya sebagaimana kita menghukum anak-anak kita, maka apakah saya akan mendapatkan sebuah pelajaran mengenai tanpa kekerasan? Saya kira tidak. Saya akan menderita atas hukuman itu dan melakukan hal yang sama lagi. Tetapi, hanya dengan satu tindakan tanpa kekerasan yang sangat luar biasa, sehingga saya merasa kejadian itu baru saja terjadi kemarin. Itulah kekuatan tanpa kekerasan."

Senate Grapples With Web Privacy Issues

2008-07-10T11:39:00.003+07:00

Consumers worry about their Internet privacy. Politicians vow to investigate. And two of the nation's biggest tech companies, Google and Microsoft, support federal legislation for data collection.

So why isn't much happening?

One reason is that legislators find the subject kind of confusing.

At the end of a two-hour Senate committee hearing yesterday on Internet advertising and privacy, Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), who led the discussion, said the affair had chiefly served to emphasize "how little we do understand."

Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), remarked wryly that because of all the talk about "cookies" and other Web terms, he was going to have to "update my dictionary."

And Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) asked a question about Internet connections so muddled that apparently no one understood.

"I think I'm not entirely sure of what you are suggesting, senator," the witness answered.

"Nor am I," he said.

The Senate hearing had been called as fears grow that the massive volume of information that Internet companies are collecting about users is violating their privacy.

For years, individual Web sites have assembled profiles of users consisting of personal preferences and activities.

But as Web sites have increasingly been united in vast ad networks, the various profiles maintained by separate sites have combined to create more detailed and far-ranging portraits of users.

Over the past year, moreover, some Internet service providers have begun experimenting with a practice that would offer even more detailed portraits of individuals. The technology, known as "deep packet inspection," allows ISPs to peer into the stream of data coming from a person's Internet line, a practice critics liken to wiretapping.

Assembled before the Senate committee were representatives of Google; Microsoft; Facebook; and NebuAd, one of the companies that provides deep packet inspection technology to Internet service providers.

All of them assured the panel that they were doing their best to protect privacy.

To pass any kind of law on the subject, Congress is expected to have to wrestle with thorny technical and philosophical questions.

If "personally identifiable information" is to be guarded by the law, what constitutes personally identifiable information? Should a person's numerical Internet address be considered private?

If people ought to be informed about data-collection practices, what format should the notice take? Web sites already issue long and convoluted terms-of-service agreements that most consumers never read.

And if a company builds a profile of a consumer, should the consumer be allowed to see what's in her file?

But even if such matters can be decided, not everyone thinks a new law covering online privacy is such a great idea.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said regulation may be unwarranted because the industry is moving "quickly to try to cut these problems off before they occur." Consumers could refuse to do business with companies that do not adequately protect privacy.

"The private market has a lot of incentives," he said.

As for the online advertising principles proposed by the Federal Trade Commission, DeMint worried that even those voluntary guidelines could stifle free enterprise.

"In some ways, we've got a solution in search of a problem," he said.

Other panel members seemed certain that there may be a problem afoot on the Internet, however.

Noting that he reads his home-state newspapers online, Nelson sounded fearful of the idea that a company could be collecting information about what he reads.

And Dorgan likened the way Web sites collect information to having someone follow a shopper around at the mall, jotting down what they looked at and bought as they moved from store to store.

"I don't have the foggiest idea who's tracking it, how they're tracking it, how they might use it, whether that company has some scruples," Dorgan said later.

"Knowledge is important here."

Sumber: Washington Post

DNS Flaw Leads To Internet 'Poisoning' Attacks

2008-07-10T10:36:00.002+07:00

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued an advisory Tuesday warning the public that Domain Name Servers (DNS) protocol and implementations contain serious vulnerabilities that open the door for cache poisoning attacks.

A cache poisoning attack occurs when an outside hacker creates a fake message that the DNS will accept, which can trick the server into delivering an incorrect request.

The error, affecting numerous platforms and vendors, stems from a fundamental flaw in the in the DNS protocol. DNS provides a back and forth translation of host URLs to IP addresses. However, if the attacker is able to determine certain request functions, such as the source port and the query ID, the attacker could be able to send a phony response that is then cached by the DNS server.

While DNS cache poisoning as a cyber threat has been around for years, recent research has uncovered faster and more reliable means for hackers to rapidly figure out the query ID and source port in order to exploit these vulnerabilities.

"Tools and techniques have been developed that can reliably poison a domain of the attacker's choosing on most current implementations," the U.S. CERT advisory said.
"Consequently, Web traffic, e-mail and other important network data can be redirected to systems under the attacker's control."

Ultimately, the error enables cyber attackers to hijack certain Internet domains by redirecting a nameserver's client to contact a different, and possibly malicious, host site. In a successful attack, a criminal could redirect users' browsers to a Website with malicious or information stealing code that could allow an attacker to take complete control of their computer.
Numerous vendors have either developed or are currently working on fixes for the serious cross-platform flaw. Microsoft addressed the DNS server vulnerability with a patch issued during its scheduled monthly update cycle, which was released Tuesday. The Internet Systems Consortium published a similar patch for its own DNS server, BIND, and more are expected to follow in subsequent days.

U.S. CERT recommends that users apply some workarounds to address the error. Until a widespread and effective patch becomes available, the agency recommends that administrators limit or restrict sources that can ask for a recursion or disable altogether the recursion on any nameserver responding to DNS requests made by untrusted systems.
Users can also find more effective ways to filter Web traffic at the perimeter while also running a local DNS cache.

Security experts say that while the error might not be considered critical, they recommend that users patch this bug as soon as possible.

"It's not necessarily a critical issue, but it is the first step in pulling of a hack on somebody else," said Eric Schultze, CTO of Shavlik Technologies. "Because it's a multi-vendor issue, it's going to get a lot of press and going to stern up a lot of consternation."

Sumber: Channel Web

Hadiah Terbesar dari Ibuku

2008-07-10T10:16:00.004+07:00

Aku berusia sepuluh tahun ketika ibuku menjadi lumpuh karena tumor tulang belakang. Sebelumnya, ia seorang wanita yang sangat bersemangat, sangat aktif, yang bagi kebanyakan orang sangat menakjubkan. Bahkan sebagai anak kecil, aku terpesona dengan prestasi-prestasi dan kecantikannya. Akan tetapi, ketika usianya tiga puluh satu tahun, hidupnya berubah. Begitu pula hidupku.

Tiba-tiba, dalam waktu sangat singkat, ia terbaring rata di pembaringan rumah sakit. Sebuah tumor jinak telah membuarnya tidak berdaya, tetapi aku masih terlalu muda umuk memahami makna kata "jinak" dalam penyakitnya, karena yang jelas ia tidak pernah seperti dulu lagi.

Kenanganku masih segar tentang dirinya sebelum menderita lumpuh. Ia selalu mudah bergaul dan sering menjadi penghibur bagi orang lain. Ia sering meluangkan waktu berjam-jam menyiapkan hidangan pembuka dan menghiasi rumah dengan bunga-bunga segar, yang dipetiknya dari taman-taman yang selalu dirawatnya di pekarangan samping. Ia akan mencarikan lagu-Iagu paling populer kala itu dan menata ulang perabotan agar ia dan teman-temannya dapat berdansa. Sesungguhnya, ibukulah yang paling gemar berdansa.

Dengan terpesona, aku memperhatikan busananya untuk pesta malam itu. Bahkan hari ini, aku masih ingat pada busana kesukaan kami, pada rok hitam dan baju atasan seperti korset berhias pita, juga dengan hiasan kepala yang sesuai untuk rambut pirangnya. Aku juga terpana tatkala siang hari-nya ia membawa pulang sepasang sepatu tumit tinggi warna hitam, dan malam itu ibuku pasti menjadi wanita tercantik di dunia.

Kala itu aku percaya bahwa ia bisa apa saja, dari bermain tenis (ia pernah juara di universitasnya), menjahit (ia membuat semua baju kami), memotret (ia pernah menjadi juara nasional), menulis (ia kolumnis di beberapa surat kabar) sampai memasak (terutama hidangan Spanyol untuk ayahku).

Sekarang, walaupun ia tidak dapat mengerjakan semua tadi, ia menghadapi penderitaan sakitnya dengan gairah sarna seperti yang sebelumnya selalu ditularkannya kepada setiap orang lain.

Kata-kata seperti "cacat" dan "fisioterapi" menjadi bagian dari sebuah dunia baru asing yang kami masuki bersama-sama, dan bola-bola karet mainan kanak-kanak yang berusaha diremasnya mengandung suatu mistik yang belum pernah dirasakan sebelumnya. Sedikit demi sedikit, aku mulai membantu merawat ibu yang sebelumnya selalu mengurus kami.

Aku belajar mengurus rambut sendiri-dan rambutnya. Akhirnya, menjadi biasa bagiku untuk mendorong kursi rodanya ke dapur, dan di sana ia memberiku petunjuk tentang cara mengupas wortel dan kentang, juga cara mengolesi keratankeratan daging sapi yang baik dengan bawang putih segar, garam, dan sedikit mentega.

Ketika untuk pertama kali, aku mendengar pembicaraan tentang tongkat penyangga, aku mengajukan protes: "Aku tidak ingin ibuku yang cantik memakai tongkat kayu." Tapi yang dikatakannya hanyalah, "Bukankah ibumu lebih baik berjalan dengan tongkat daripada tidak berjalan sarna sekali?"

Setiap prestasi yang diraihnya seperti sebuah patok kilometer bagi kami berdua: mesin tik listrik, mobil dengan power steering dan power brake, kembalinya ke universitas, sampai mendapatkan gelar master dalam pendidikan khusus.

Ia belajar semua yang dapat dipelajarinya tentang hidup sebagai orang cacat dan akhirnya mendirikan sebuah kelompok aktivis pendukung sesama kaum cacat yang disebut The Handicappers. Pada suatu hari, tanpa memberitahu terlebih dahulu, ia mengajak aku dan adik laki-Iakiku ke acara pertemuan The Handicappers. Aku belum pernah melihat begitu banyak orang dengan cacat yang begitu beragam. Sepulang ke rumah, diam-diam aku memeriksa diri, merenung tentang betapa beruntung kami sesungguhnya. Sejak itu ia sering mengajak kami dan, akhirnya, melihat orang tanpa kaki atau tanpa tangan tidak terasa mengejutkan lagi. Ibu juga memperkenalkan kami dengan beberapa penderita cerebral palsy, menekankan bahwa kebanyakan mereka sarna cerdas dengan kami-mungkin lebih cerdas. Kemudian ia mengajari kami cara berkomunikasi dengan para cacat mental, menunjukkan betapa sering mereka lebih penyayang bila dibandingkan dengan kaum "normal." Selama menjalani semua ini, ayahku tetap mencintai dan mendukungnya.

Ketika usiaku sebelas tahun, Ibu bercerita kepadaku bahwa ia dan Ayah akan mempunyai bayi lagi. Lama setelah itu, aku tahu bahwa sesungguhnya dokter telah mendesaknya menjalani aborsi-sebuah pilihan yang ditolaknya dengan tegas. Tak lama kemudian, kami menjadi ibu bersama-sama, karena aku menjadi ibu pengasuh bagi adik perempuanku itu, Maria Theresia. Dalam waktu tidak lama, aku belajar mengganti popok, memandikan, dan menyuapinya. Walaupun Ibu terus menjalankan perannya sebagai ibu yang disiplin, bagiku ini sebuah langkah raksasa dibanding hanya bermain boneka.

Ada satu peristiwa yang masih kuingat jelas bahkan sampai hari ini: waktu Maria Theresia, saat itu dua tahun, jatuh sampai lututnya lecet. Tangisnya meledak, Ibu telah mengulurkan tangan, namun Maria langsung berlari ke arahku. Sekilas aku melihat kekecewaan terburat pada wajahnya, tetapi yang dikatakannya hanya, "Wajar kalau ia lari menghampirimu, karena kau selalu merawatnya dengan baik."

Karena ibuku menerima kondisinya dengan optimisme begitu besar, aku jarang merasa sedih atau geram karenanya. Akan tetapi, aku tidak akan pernah melupakan hari ketika rasa puas diriku terkoyak. Lama setelah citra ibuku dengan sepatu tumit tingginya menghilang dari alam sadarku, ada sebuah pesta lagi di rumah kami. Kala itu aku sudah remaja, dan begitu aku melihat ibuku yang selalu tersenyum duduk di pinggir, menyaksikan teman-temannya berdansa, aku tersentak dengan betapa kejam dan ironisnya keterbatasan fisik yang dialami oleh Ibu. Tiba-tiba, aku seperti terkirim kembali ke masa lampau, ke masa ketika aku masih kecil, dan bayangan temang Ibu yang berdansa dengan kecantikannya yang memesona muncul lagi di depanku.

Waktu itu aku ingin tahu apakah Ibu masih ingat juga. Dengan spontan, aku menghampirinya, dan kemudian aku melihat bahwa, meskipun wajahnya tersenyum, matanya berlinang air mata. Aku berlari ke luar dari ruangan itu, masuk ke kamarku, menangis sambil membenamkan wajahku ke bantal-menumpahkan air mata yang tak pernah ditumpahkan oleh Ibu sendiri. Untuk pertama kalinya, aku marah kepada Tuhan, kepada hidup, atas ketidakadilan yang ditimpakan kepada ibuku.

Kenangan tentang senyuman Ibu yang begitu bersinar tidak pernah sirna. Sejak saat itu, aku mulai memandang kemampuannya mengatasi begitu banyak kehilangan yang telah dialaminya dan semangatnya untuk terus menatap ke depan yang sebelumnya tidak kuhayati-sebagai sebuah misteri besar dan pembangkit inspirasi yang dahsyat.

Ketika aku menjadi dewasa dan masuk ke bidang yang berhubungan dengan Iembaga pemasyarakatan, Ibu menjadi tertarik untuk bekerja bagi para narapidana. Ia menghubungi lembaga pemasyarakatan tempatku bekerja dan memima izin umuk mengajarkan teknik menulis kreatif kepada para narapidana. Aku ingat bagaimana mereka berkerumun menyambumya setiap kali ia datang dan tampak berusaha mendengarkan setiap kata yang diucapkannya, seperti ketika aku masih kecil..

Bahkan ketika ia tidak dapat lagi pergi ke lembaga pemasyarakatan, ia sering berkirim surat dengan beberapa narapidana.

Pada suatu hari, ia memintaku mengirimkan sepucuk surat bagi seorang narapidana bernama Waymon. Aku meminta izin untuk membacanya terlebih dahulu, dan ia setuju, hampir tanpa bayangan tentang betapa suratnya akan menjadi seperti sebuah wahyu bagiku. Begini bunyi surat itu:

Waymon yang terkasih,
Saya ingin Anda tahu bahwa saya terus memikirkan Anda sejak menerima surat Anda. Anda bercerita tentang betapa sulit hidup di balik jeruji besi, dan hati saya selalu beserta Anda. Tapi ketika Anda mengatakan bahwa saya mustahil membayangkan rasanya dipenjara, saya merasa terdorong untuk menjawab bahwa dugaan Anda salah.

Kebebasan ada bermacam-macam, Waymon. Begitu pula penjara. Kadang-kadang penjara kita tidak seperti yang dibayangkan oleh banyak orang.

Pada usia tiga puluh satu tahun, suatu hari saya terbangun dan menemukan bahwa saya lumpuh total, saya merasa terperangkap-merasa seolah-olah dipenjara dalam tubuh yang tidak lagi memungkinkan saya berlari memintas padang penggembalaan atau berdansa atau menggendong anak saya.

Untuk waktu yang lama saya terbaring demikian, berusaha menerima ketidakberdayaan saya, berusaha tidak tenggelam dalam sikap iba diri. Saya bertanya kepada diri sendiri tentang apa enaknya hidup dalam keadaan demikian, bukankah akan lebih baik bila saya mati?

Saya terus memikirkan keadaan keterpenjaraan ini, karena bagi saya seolah-olah telah kehilangan segala sesuatu yang berarti dalam hidup saya. Saya hampir putusasa.

Akan tetapi kemudian, pada suatu hari datanglah suatu kesadaran dalam diri saya bahwa, sesungguhnya, masih ada beberapa pilihan yang terbuka bagi saya dan bahwa saya mempunyai kebebasan untuk memilihnya. Haruskah saya tersenyum ketika bertemu anak-anak saya lagi atau haruskah saya menangis? Haruskah saya menyumpahi Tuhan-atau sebaliknya memohon kekuatan tambahan kepada-Nya?

Dengan kata lain, apa yang akan saya perbuat dengan kehendak bebas yang diberi-Nya kepada saya-dan masih ada pada saya?

Saya memutuskan untuk berusaha, selama hayat masih dikandung badan, untuk hidup semampu saya, untuk mencari cara mengubah pengalaman-pengalaman yang tampaknya negatif menjadi pengalaman-pengalaman positif, untuk mencari cara mengubah keterbatasan-keterbatasan fisik saya dengan memperluas cakrawala mental dan spiritual saya. Saya dapat memilih untuk menjadi teladan yang positif bagi anak-anak saya, atau menenggelamkan diri ke ketidakberdayaan dan mati, baik secara emosional maupun fisik.

Ada bermacam-macam kebebasan, Waymon. Bila kita kehilangan salah satu kebebasan, kita hanya tinggal mencari kebebasan yang lain.

Anda dan saya masih dikaruniai kebebasan memilih buku-buku yang baik, mana yang akan kita baca, mana yang akan kita singkirkan.

Anda dapat memilih melihat ke jeruji, atau melihat lewat jeruji. Anda dapat menjadi teladan bagi mereka yang lebih muda, atau bergabung dengan para pembuat onar. Anda dapat memilih mencintai Tuhan dan berusaha mengenal-Nya lebih baik, atau berpaling memunggungi-Nya.

Bagaimanapun, Waymon, kita sama-sama menjalani keadaan ini.

Begitu selesai membaca surat untuk Waymon, penglihatanku menjadi kabur karena air mata. Baru pertama kali itu aku melihat Ibu dengan lebih jelas.

Dan aku memahaminya.

Marie Ragghianti

Sumber: Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul

Google adds third dimension to online social relationships

2008-07-09T21:14:00.001+07:00

Google has entered yet another space with the launch of Lively, a tool for creating 3D social spaces on Web sites, which is now available in a public beta test.

The platform lets users create and personalize their own character, so-called avatars, and their own rooms, which is nothing new: Second Life does as much.

But a key feature of the Lively platform is integration with the regular Internet. Users are able to create a room, and embed it with their web site or blog, writes Niniane Wang, Engineering Manager at Google, on the company blog.

Rooms can also be integrated with both MySpace and Facebook pages, and there is also support for playing YouTube videos and showing photos in virtual TVs and picture frames, according to Wang.

The inspiration for the platform was the realization that the current social world is too static, according to Wang.

With Lively she wants users to be able to interact using words, 3D graphics and gestures. The furniture users pick for their room should give visitors an idea of who they are, and it is more poignant to receive an animated hug than seeing the text "[[hug]]" displayed on the screen, according to Wang.

To be able to use the Lively beta, users need a computer running Windows, and either Internet Explorer or Firefox (the browser is the client), and be older than 13.

Immediately after the launch comments are starting to appear, and it's a mixed message. The fact that the platform only supports Windows, at least so far, annoys some, especially Mac users.
Users are also complaining about the interface, which they say is too clunky, and questioning whether there is really a need for another platform. There are also reports of the Firefox version crashing. So Google seems to have its work cut out for it, but it is after all only a beta, although some suggest it should only be an alpha version.

But at the same time there are also those who think Google will dominate the field, and the cartoon-style graphics are also given a thumbs-up.

Sumber: Network World

Analyses of 3D Structure of Magnetic Flux Ropes via Global MHD Simulations

2008-07-09T21:06:00.001+07:00

Abstract

It is well known that the Earth's magnetosphere often shows complex 3D configurations when IMF (Interplanetary Magnetic Field) By component is large. However, such complex magnetic fields have not been clarified yet. We performed a 3D Global MHD simulation with IMF By=/=0 to study interactions between solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. We found that complex 3D magnetic fields called magnetic flux rope in the Earth's magnetotail are generated and propagated tailward.

Keywords : Space plasma, Global MHD simulation, Magnetic flux rope, 3D visualization, Haptic interface

Full Paper

The Fundamental Study About Flow Visualized Observation by use of a Towing Water Tank

2008-07-09T21:03:00.001+07:00

Abstract

In this study, in order to investigate the experiment condition which suits to the flow visualization experiment by use of a towing water tank, the flow visualized observation of vortex shedding from a bluff cylinder was performed with two towing water tanks for the experimental parameter of the water level and depth and the size of bluff cylinder. As a result of experiment, the accuracy of flow visualized measurement and its repeatability were shown. The suiting tracer flow rate and the standstill time of water were obtained. Also, it was found that the necessary width of water tank W and water depth h are more than 12d (d is cylinder width) and more than 20 ~ 25d. It was found that the vortex shedding from a bluff cylinder depended on the change of the aspect ratio h/d than on the blockade ratio and the change of the flow pattern was shown.

Keywords :
Vortex, Towing Water Tank, Flow Visualization, Strouhal Number, Blockage Ratio, Aspect Ratio

Full Paper

A New Approach Using Temporal Radial Basis Function in Chronological Series

2008-07-09T20:50:00.000+07:00

In this paper, we present an extended form of Radial Basis Function network called Temporal-RBF (T-RBF) network. This extended network can be used in decision rules and classification in Spatio-Temporal domain applications, like speech recognition, economic fluctuations, seismic measurements and robotics applications. We found that such a network complies with relative ease to constraints such as capacity of universal approximation, sensibility of node, local generalisation in receptive field, etc. For an optimal solution based on a probabilistic approach with a minimum of complexity, we propose two TRBF models (1 and 2). Application to the problem of Mackey-Glass time series has revealed that TRBF models are very promising, compared to traditional networks.

Key Words: Temporal RBF, Classification, Spatio-Temporal, Speech recognition, Robotics applications

Full Paper

Generation of High-Repetition-Rate Pulses Utilizing Cascaded Single Mode Fiber and Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

2008-07-09T20:43:00.000+07:00

Abstract

To generate high-repetition-rate optical pulses, a novel and simple device is demonstrated, in which the cascaded single mode fiber (SMF) with negative third order dispersion and semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) are adopted. Numerical research results show that let an optical pulse with center wavelength in zero dispersion wavelength of optical fiber transit in SMF for generating an oscillation pulse. Subsequently, the followed SOA is provided for amplification. As a consequence, the high-repetition-rate optical pulses can be obtained.

Key Words: Optoelectronics, high-repetition-rate optical pulses, single mode fiber, semiconductor optical amplifier

Full Paper

A Novel Theoretical Procedure to Determine Absorption and Gain Coefficients in a Symmetric Single Step-Index Quantum Well Laser

2008-07-09T20:42:00.000+07:00

Abstract

If the indices nII, nI,III of the regions, the thickness 2a of the active region (AR) and the wavelength l for a single symmetric step-index quantum well laser (SSSIQWL) are given, the normalized propagation constant (NPC) a is obtained. In this novel method, absorption and gain coefficients for the SSSIQWL have been obtained in terms of the NPCs a in the even and odd fields, directly.

Full Paper

Zero Crossing Counter for Accuracy Improvement of FMCW Range Detection

2008-07-09T20:37:00.001+07:00

Abstract

For civil and military purposes FMCW radars are widely used. The theoretical background is well-established. Nevertheless, improvement of various aspects of these radars is still required. Signal processing is one of the crucial points of the system which determines the capabilities of the radar. In this study a zero crossing detector implementation, which can be efficiently used for target detection and range calculation in short range FMCW range detector is proposed. The duration between consecutive zero-crossings are used as the data instead of the number of cycles per unit time. Experimental evaluation of its performance is also given.

Full Paper

Comparison of Basic Linear Filters in Extracting Auditory Evoked Potentials

2008-07-09T20:36:00.001+07:00

Abstract

In the present study, the performances of two well-known linear filtering techniques are compared for extraction of auditory Evoked Potential (EP) from a relatively small number of sweeps. Both experimental and simulated data are filtered by the two algorithms into two groups. Group A consists of Wiener filtering (WF) applications, where conventional WF and Coherence Weighted WF (CWWF)) have been assessed in combination with the Subspace Method (SM). Group B consists of the well-known adaptive filtering algorithms Least Mean Square (LMS), Recursive Least Square (RLS), and one-step Kalman filtering (KF). Both groups are tested with respect to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement by comparing to the traditional ensemble averaging (EA). We observed that KF is the best method among them. The application of the SM before filtering improves the performance of the LMS and the assessments of WF where the CWWF works better than the conventional WF in that case. In conclusion, most of the linear filters show definitely better performance compared to EA. KF effectively reduces the experimental time (to one-fourth of that required by EA). The SM that has recently been revealed in EP estimation is found to be a meaningful pre-filter as it significantly reduces the noise level of EEG raw data.

Key Words: Adaptive filtering, Wiener filtering, auditory evoked potential, EEG

Full Paper

Method of Moments Solution by Using Sinc-Type Basis Functions for the Scattering from a Finite Number of Conducting Strip Gratings

2008-07-09T20:23:00.001+07:00

Abstract

A numerical method of moments (MoM) solution is applied to the electromagnetic scattering from a periodic finite conducting strip array when the incident electromagnetic plane wave E and H polarizations illuminate the grating. For such grating strip geometry, we deal with singular integral equations arising from Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions. MoM is applied using band-limited sinc functions as basis and testing functions. The Galerkin approach is followed in MoM formulation. The properties of the sinc function, with the infinite integral, are exploited in the computations of the main matrix elements. Also, the error in our approach goes to zero with increasing bandwidth or lower sampling rate. Results of our formulation are given as surface current densities and far field scattered data. Our data is also compared with previous results available in the literature.

Full Paper

Time to patch DNS servers and clients

2008-07-09T20:18:00.002+07:00

CERT has issued an advisory, short on details about the exact nature of the problem, about a fundamental flaw in the DNS protocol which allows an attacker to poison a DNS cache. Working with the person who found the flaw, Dan Kaminsky, CERT notified vendors of the problem and is coordinating a publication of the patch. If you run a DNS server, check with your vendor to see if a patch is available. But while Kaminsky admits that DNSSEC would have prevented the problem, edifying to me, to say the least, rolling out DNSSEC is not going to be a near term fix.

One of the main functions of DNS is to convert names like www.example.com into IP addresses and vice versa. DNS can do much more, for example, you configure DNS to tell other systems where you mail server is located and Active Directory makes extensive use of DNS to tell Windows hosts where critical services are located.

When a user types in a host name like www.example.com, if their computer doesn’t know what IP address is tied to the host name, it will send the request to the DNS server it is configured to use. That name server, if it doesn’t know the IP addresses associated with www.example.com, will initiate a search for the IP address. This is a process called recursive query. Once your DNS server has the response, or DNS record, it sends it back to the client that made the request. Rather than make the same request for a host name each time a user asks, the computer and the DNS server will cache the DNS record locally so it doesn’t have to make subsequent requests. On your computer, that means once your computer gets a response to a query, it won’t have to ask again. At the DNS server, called a recursive or caching DNS server, it will respond to any query for www.example.com from it’s local cache, thereby reducing traffic and queries from multiple users. DNS records have time to live values, TTL, that tell the DNS client and DNS server how long to keep a DNS record in the cache before starting a new request. The TTL lets you change the IP addresses of hosts.

DNS cache poisoning is, as the name implies, an event where an attacker inserts a bogus DNS record into a caching name server to redirect users from a legitimate IP address to one controlled by the attacker. For example, let’s say you want to go to www.example.com whose IP address is 192.168.1.10. You type in www.example.com into your browser, it asks the operating system to resolve the name to an IP address. If the DNS record is not in the local cache, it send the request to a DNS server, which continues the request process. If an attacker knows that you are looking for www.example.com and can respond with a DNS record which maps the hostname to a server the attacker controls, say 10.1.1.10, then your computer will connect to the attackers server rather than the actual server.DNS cache poisoning can be used for man in the middle attacks.

To protect against trivial DNS cache poisoning, each request has a transaction ID that should be a randomly selected number. The response to a DNS request must have a matching transaction ID. In addition, the DNS request, which uses UDP as a transport, selects a source port number when making a recursive request. Assuming that the attacker can not see the actual DNS request, he will have to guess the transaction ID and the source port number that DNS server used to spoof a response.

There are a couple of problems with the DNS protocol and how it is implemented. First, the transaction ID is only 16 bits long, a relatively small number and there are documented cases where vendors and DNS server developers didn’t sufficiently randomize the transaction ID leading an attacker to guess the next one. Another vulnerability is that some DNS servers allowed multiple requests to be simultaneously open, each with a unique transaction ID, which allows the attacker to send back multiple spoofed responses hoping to match a transaction ID. Finally, some DNS servers either used the same UDP source port for all DNS queries or the operating system allocated source ports sequentially allowing an attacker to guess the next source port.

Apparently Kaminsky found a way to initiate cache poisoning despite the known vulnerabilities listed above that should have been addressed, he has found a way to still poison the cache. He will be releasing the details on August 6th at Blackhat, but he participated in an informative podcast where he explains the impacts and what he thinks you need to know. He does not release the details, however. His recommendation is that if your DNS server can resolve domain names from the Internet, patch the system and patch DNS clients, like your workstations. Remember too, lots of products like routers, swtiches, print servers are also DNS clients.

Sumber: Information Week

Intel replaces AMD as DreamWorks Animation supplier

2008-07-09T20:06:00.001+07:00

Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chip maker, has supplanted Advanced Micro Devices Inc. as the supplier of microprocessing equipment to movie studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.

Intel will install servers -- computers that run networks -- based on its technology at DreamWorks Animation, the companies said Tuesday.

In 2005, AMD signed a three-year deal to provide processors to the Glendale studio, producer of such films as "Kung Fu Panda" and the "Shrek" series.

Intel and AMD are working to improve the quality of graphics processing in computers by integrating the capability, normally provided by separate semiconductors, into their microprocessors.

Starting next year, DreamWorks Animation intends to make all its films in "stereoscopic 3-D," which requires more computing power.

"We are now converting exclusively to Intel," DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said.

"It's a much more ambitious program, and we need the capabilities of Intel to achieve it.

"Using Intel's chips will speed up production, changing the way the studio's animation artists work, he said.

Shares of DreamWorks Animation climbed 89 cents to $29.65. AMD, rose 15 cents to $5.53. Intel gained 21 cents to $20.92.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel's share of the server market increased to 87.5% in the first quarter this year, from 84.8% a year earlier, according to Mercury Research.Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD's market share fell to 12.5% from 15.2%.

"We look at these things as cyclical and that the opportunity will present itself again in the future," AMD spokesman John Taylor said.

Sumber: Los Angeles Times

Sulfuric acid leak detected at oil refinery

2008-07-08T21:57:00.000+07:00

KURASHIKI, Okayama--A pipe that carries sulfuric acid at an oil refinery of Nippon Oil Corp. in Kurashiki was discovered early Monday to be partially broken, resulting in a leakage of the high-concentration liquid, police said.

An employee at the Mizushima oil refinery noticed the leak at about 2:40 a.m. and contacted the local fire department.

It is believed that up to about 1,000 liters of the acid leaked from the five-centimeter-diameter pipe, and there are fears some of the liquid might have spilled into the Seto Inland Sea.
No damage has been reported so far, but the Mizushima Coast Guard Office ordered surveillance vessels to the area to investigate possible damages.

According to the refinery, highly concentrated sulfuric acid used to produce gasoline was sent via the pipe to a factory from a tank about a kilometer from the refinery.

Sumber: Yomiuri

U.S. firm mulls building geothermal power plant from Sidoarjo mudflow

2008-07-08T21:55:00.001+07:00

A U.S.-based consortium Vlocity Holding Inc. said it plans to build a 2000-Megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant from the Sidoarjo mudflow.

Vlocity director Taswin Tarib said his consortium could invest US$5 billion in the project should the government agree with the plan.

"Our plan looked feasible as the Sidoarjo mudflow temperature could reach 40 to 60 Celsius degree daily," he said.

The electricity from the mudflow would be later sold to the State Electricity Firm (PLN) at 2-3 euro cents per kilowatt hour, Taswin said.The power plant could also create some 2,500 jobs for Indonesians, he said, adding that the plan had been presented to Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Vice president special expert staff Alwi Hamu said the vice president had given a green signal to conduct an analysis of the power plant proposal.

Sumber: The Jakarta Post